Mechdread: The First Stage
by Stellar Castaway
Summary: When the pirates of Mejere raided the Ikazuchi they take with them a fourth man. Meet David Angelus a young veteran from a distant world. What happens when David's hosts discover that he isn't what he seems? How much will he affect the people around him? How well will he be able to handle these people's gender issues? One thing is for sure it's going to be one heck of a long ride!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread in any way. This story will also reference StarCraft, Freelancer, Lost Planet, Transformers, and EVE Online none of which I own either but I wish I did. I only own the OCs.**

**Author's Notes: Hi there fellow readers! This is my second fanfiction so I hope you'll enjoy it. Keep in mind that I'll be updating this alongside my other story so it might take awhile before I update this one from time to time. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy Mechdread: The First Stage!**

**"**Talking**"**

**_"_**_Thoughts__**"**_

...

**Chapter 1**

** The Assignment**

...

**At a distant sector of space…**

In the calm void of space a fierce battle was being waged with two opposing fleets squaring off and exchanging deadly bursts of weapons fire. One fleet consisted of five seed-shaped vessels that fired short red lances of laser beams while occasionally opening their forward section into a maw that deployed strange cubes that drifted for a moment before they broke apart revealing the "pieces" to be strange square octopi-shaped fighters that quickly dispersed and darted to engage their targets. The other fleet was made up of three ships, two two-hundred twenty meter long frigates escorting a larger ship of four-hundred thirty meter long cruiser, that unleashed blue ion, orange proton, yellow particle, and purple plasma weapons fire and torpedoes upon the seed ships with anti-fighter turrets firing at the cube fighters while the ships themselves were supported by a number of various fighters and bombers.

As the battle progressed the space near the hulls of the three ships and their fighters would briefly flare as the seed fleet's weapons impacted their shields. They returned the favor as they returned fire destroying two of the seed ships and heavily damaging a third. The remaining seed vessels then deployed more cube fighters and began attacking one of the frigates at once. The frigate's shields briefly flashed rapidly as the many beams made contact before finally failing with sections of its hull taking damage.

The other two ships quickly moved to support their damaged ally by positioning themselves between the wounded frigate and the remaining seed ships. Fighters from both sides surged at one another with renewed vigor in defense of their respective sides. One group of fighters in particular moves to capitalize on the situation and turn the tide.

These seven inverted v-shaped Shrike-class fighters, were light gray with a sleek frame and low, thin wings that had a symbol of a black stylized medieval helmet on both wings. They had twin plasma guns near the cockpit with two proton guns on the underside of their wings as well as dual missile pods. The squad flew in delta formation as they headed toward one of the seed ships followed closely by three slightly larger delta shaped Tigershark-class bombers.

The pilot of the leading fighter watched as he saw the enemy through his helmet's visor. He then reached for the comm on the holographic display in front of him.

"Alright Onyx Knights listen up! We have to punch a hole through the enemy's formation and watch Bravo Squad's backs when those slugs make their special delivery on the target." he said with a smirk as he heard his squad mates chuckling until another voice interrupted.

"Hey! I heard that ya little jackass!" the leader of Bravo Squad shouted in mock anger.

"Roger, Bravo Leader. Onyx Leader has received your acknowledgement." the pilot now identified as Onyx leader replied innocently.

His squad then broke into full laughter as they heard Bravo leader griping over the comm.

"Yeah, yeah just watch it smart aleck! Anyway we're ready when you are."

Onyx leader nodded. "Understood. Everyone get ready to move when I give the signal."

"Roger, Onyx Two standing by." a gruff man's voice answered.

"Onyx Three ready." a more feminine voice replied.

"Onyx Four waiting to kick ass!" a youthful male voice shouted.

"Onyx Five awaiting orders." another male voice replied seriously.

"Onyx Six ready to engage." a second female voice said.

"Onyx Seven as ready as I'll ever be." the final male remarked casually.

He smiled briefly before his expression became a mask of calm as he narrowed his eyes with determination.

"All units engage!"

"Yes sir!" the squad chorused at once.

The fighters then accelerated toward the damaged seed ship while maintaining a protective formation around the bombers. As they approached the enemy ship multiple Cube fighters moved to intercept them.

"Watch it, Cubers coming in fast!" Onyx Two warned.

"I see them! Take them out but keep on course and don't give them time to adapt to your movements! We have to get Bravo to the target in one piece!" Onyx leader ordered.

"Roger!"

At that the squad unleashed a torrent of rapid blue plasma fire with cube drones retaliating with volleys of lasers.

The shields of his fighter flickered as some laser fire made impact but he was able to dodge the worst of it while firing his twin plasma guns and dual proton cannons destroying five enemy drones. The other members of his squad were performing just as well, taking out any drones that got in their way while evading incoming enemy fire.

An alarm sounded and he noticed a pair of drones trying to avoid him in order to go for the bombers.

_"Not so fast!" _he fired two missiles which then split into smaller ones that headed straight for the targets. The drones tried evade them but failed as the missiles gave chase and reduced them to fiery explosions.

"Sir, contacts coming in from four and seven o'clock!" Onyx Three said urgently.

"Got it. Onyx Four and Six intercept and keep them of our backs!"

"Roger." replied Onyx Six.

"Yes sir! Time to blow the hell out of some more bad guys!" Onyx Four whooped.

The two Shrikes peeled away to engage their respective targets while the rest of the squad pressed on. Within moments he saw the heavily damaged seed vessel and knew that they were nearing their objective.

_"Almost there!"_ he thought with relish.

Suddenly one of the seed ships moved in between them and the damaged one blocking the way.

_"Okay, this might be a problem."_

"Sir-!"

"I see it Onyx Two." he interrupted narrowing his eyes. His eyes widened then relaxed with a devious smile.

"Onyx Two and Five stay with Bravo Squad and be ready to move when I give the word. Onyx Three and Seven you're with me. I have a plan." he ordered.

"Roger!"

"Please tell me that this isn't one of your usual crazy plans?" Onyx Seven pleaded.

"Trust me Seven, this one will be more fun." Onyx Leader assured.

"I was afraid you'd say that." Onyx Seven groaned.

"Quit whining Onyx Seven, you're still alive aren't you?" asked Onyx Three.

"Easy for you to say! _You_ actually like these crazy stunts we get into!" countered exasperatedly.

"Alright you two cut the chatter, we have a Seed-class to take out! Now follow my lead." Onyx Leader ordered before they could continue arguing.

"Roger!"

The three fighters then headed straight for the Seed ship. Onyx Leader looked around for a moment before he was looking for.

"Those will do." he mumbled to himself before firing at three Cube fighters, purposefully missing them. They turned as one and gave chase to offending ship that took a shot at them.

"Uh leader, would you care to tell us why you did that?" Onyx Seven asked in confusion.

"All part of the plan. Now go to max velocity and fire on the Seed ship. Let's give these bastards something to chase!"

"Roger!"

The Shrikes accelerated faster as the Cube fighters gave chase as they fired on them. Then as one they opened fire on the Seed ship causing it to turn in their direction and it began charging its laser cannon.

"Steady, get ready to execute a loop on my mark!"

"Right!" Onyx Three replied.

"Here we go again." Onyx Seven sighed.

As they continued to dodge enemy attacks from behind they continued to get closer to the Seed ship as it charge its cannon.

"Now!"

The fighters did a sharp loop in front of the Seed ship with the Cube fighters trying to get out of the way but were too late as they crashed right into its charging cannon. Explosions ripped across the surface of the ship as the cannon overloaded before finally exploding.

"Woo-hoo! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Onyx Three cheered.

"Okay that was pretty impressive." Onyx Seven admitted.

"It's not over yet. Bravo Leader, this is Onyx Leader you are clear to engage the target."

"You got it kid. Dropping the anvil!"

Onyx Leader watched as Bravo Squad flew past him and fired their antimatter missiles that speed toward the wounded Seed ship. At the moment of impact the missiles did job well as massive explosions ripped the vessel to pieces. With the battle turning in their favor the two frigates and one cruiser focused their fire on the lone Seed ship which soon shared the same fate as the other Seed vessel. Without their motherships controlling them, the Cube fighters all shut down and drifted helplessly in space.

"Alright people let's wrap this up and go home." Onyx Leader ordered with a smile.

"Yes sir!"

"We're with you sir!" Onyx Six said as her rejoined the formation.

"Hell yeah we are! Let's mop the floor with these assholes!" shouted Onyx Four as he also returned.

When the last inert Cube fighter was destroyed a voice broke over the comm.

"All units the enemy force has been destroyed return to your respective ships for a well-deserved rest. Nice work everyone and welcome back!" a female CIC operator said.

Cheers flooded the comms as the squads began docking with their respective ships.

Onyx Leader smiled has he piloted his fighter toward the Intrepid-class Cruiser _Challenger_ and its hangar bay and spotting the familiar emblem on the side of the ship, a blue circle with a pair of black stylized wings framing its sides against a white background, the symbol of the Terra Novus Alliance. As he deployed his landing struts to dock with the ship he couldn't help but look forward to getting some rest.

….

After he landed his Shrike on the hangar deck he climbed out the cockpit and jumped landing with a thud on the metal deck. The pilot known as Onyx Leader stood at a height of five feet seven inches, wearing a white and blue lightly armored suit with a pistol and a sheathed knife strapped to the opposite sides of his waist and wore a smooth rounded helmet that had a silver reflective visor that covered where the face would be. He then removed his helmet with a snap and hiss revealing his features.

The nineteen year olds skin had a slightly pale complexion that had a healthy, flawless appearance and short brown hair. But his most striking feature was his eyes. His irises were a light amethyst color that seemed to slightly glow and also looked as though they contained a great deal of wisdom and experience that seemed to surpass his age.

"Hey David!"

David turned and saw his second-in-command Onyx Five walking toward him with his helmet off.

"Steve, nice to see that you're still in one piece. Is the rest of the team doing well?" David asked with a smile.

Steven McGrath, or Steve as he liked to be called, was eighteen with a healthy tanned skin, ginger hair that was close to his scalp, green eyes, and stood at five feet six inches. Like David he wore the same black armored suit but had a few added accessories such as the ace of spades on his armor's right shoulder pad. But not only was he David's second-in-command but also his childhood friend.

Steve gave a smile of his own.

"You should know that it will take a lot more than Cube drones to bring me down. And yes the team is doing fine. Though I heard you almost gave Simon a heart attack." he answered with a raised eyebrow in mock concern.

Knowing that he was referring to Onyx Seven David grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "Well what can I say? The guy worries way too much."

Steve laughed. "True, but that's not always a bad thing." he reasoned when he stopped laughing.

"But there's another reason why I was looking for you." he said suddenly giving David a serious look.

"What's up?"

"Just before you landed word came from the bridge that Captain Ackerson wanted to see you ASAP."

"Did they say why?" David asked curiously.

Steve shook his head. "No they just said the captain wanted you to report to the bridge."

David made a slight frown wondering what was so important that the captain wanted to discuss it with him personally.

"Then I guess I'll have go and see what's going on. After I've changed into my uniform of course, you how he is with the regs."

"True enough. I'll see to the squad until you get back." he said with a smile.

Returning the smile David nodded before he left.

….

Now wearing his uniform, the fabric mainly white while blue on the shoulders with two patches, the left bearing the insignia of the Terra Novus Alliance and the right bearing an emblem of a glowing Roman helmet in the middle of a shield with dual swords crisscrossing beneath the helmet, along with thin black lines running along the sides and center, David walked straight to the metal doors in front of him which automatically opened with a hiss and he was greeted by the sight of the bridge.

It was a wide circular area with a view screen at the end that showed the starry visage of space. Crew members worked at various consoles around the room with the center having two chairs that were slightly elevated both being for the captain and XO. Standing near one of these chairs with his back to David was Captain John Ackerson himself.

David then stood at attention and saluted.

"Lieutenant Angelus, Centurion Special Operations reporting as ordered sir!" David said in a crisp military manner.

The captain turned to face him giving David a clear view of him. Captain Jonas Ackerson wore a similar uniform to David but had two golden marks on his collar that donated his rank. He had a dark chestnut complexion with thin black crew cut hair and appeared to be in his mid-thirties if the slight wrinkles around his dark brown eyes and the occasional strands of grey hair were anything to go by. He also had well-built physique and carried himself with measured confidence and his eyes that shone with years of experience that he had no doubt gained from his long career. This was an individual worthy of respect for not only was the captain of the _Challenger_ but also the overall commander of the taskforce.

Though Captain Ackerson also had a reputation of being very strict and something of a by-the-books officer.

Captain Ackerson looked at David briefly before returning the salute.

"At ease, Lieutenant."

David relaxed but still kept a formal stance. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes Lieutenant, I have just received some very interesting orders concerning you in particular. Orders that must be discussed in private." informed Ackerson with a stony expression.

David was now even more confused and a little apprehensive about what this could be all about. But before he could respond the captain turned to another man.

"Commander I'll be in my ready room, you have the bridge."

"Aye, sir!"

He then turned back to David.

"Lieutenant if you would join me."

With that turned walked to one of the doors on the left side of the room followed closely by David. As David and Ackerson entered the room, David took note of how the room was setup. All in all, the room was fairly Spartan, having a few portraits of famous battles and a desk with various datapads and two chairs on opposite sides.

The captain walked to his desk and retrieved one of the datapads giving the contents of whatever was on it a once over before turning to David.

"It appears Lieutenant that your time on this ship is over. This came straight from Alliance Command; your orders are to report to one of our outposts in the Epsilon Sector to be briefed on your next assignment." he said with a neutral expression but his voice held a hint of regret at David's coming departure.

David started with surprise, he had only been on the ship for a few weeks and he was already being called to go on another mission. Granted in his line of work there were plenty of missions to go on and he generally didn't stay in one place for too long but he that he would at least be staying for a few more weeks before moving on.

"Did Command mention what these orders were about sir?" asked David curious but knew what the answer was likely to be.

"I'm afraid not. But I was told that you'll be informed of the specifics by Rear Admiral Gardner when you arrive."

David blinked in surprise. Many knew the famous rear admiral as he won several victories in many sectors and was responsible for Alliance fleet operations in a lot of sectors including Epsilon. Moreover, David had personally met the man once at an award ceremony after he had returned from the Koprulu Sector.

"I take it that you know him Lieutenant?" asked Ackerson raising an eyebrow at David's reaction.

"Yes sir, I met the admiral once after getting back from Koprulu." he replied quietly recalling his time there.

Ackerson nodded with a look of understanding apparently aware of that particular incident.

"In any event I'll have you transferred over to the _Rubicon_ as it is in need of repairs so they'll be able to take you where need go. Here are the appropriate orders to give to Captain Himura." he said referring to the name and captain of the ship that was damaged earlier while handing David the datapad.

"Understood sir."

Ackerson nodded. "Dismissed."

David saluted once more before turning to leave.

"And Lieutenant?"

David looked back to the captain.

"Although your assignment to this ship was a temporary one, your performance in these past several weeks have done credit to your uniform and I am honored to have had you under my command. Good luck." Ackerson said with sincerity.

"Thank you sir."

And with that David left to prepare for his departure.

….

After he gathered his things David headed straight for one of the shuttles in the hanger bay that would take him to the _Rubicon_ which will transport him to his next destination: Mithril Station. As he neared the shuttle he noticed that someone was already waiting for him. It turned out to be none other than Steve with a small smile.

"So you're really leaving?"

David sighed.

"Orders for a new mission I'm afraid, my assignment here was temporary after all. Besides you know how it is with us Centurions." he replied wryly.

"Yeah, never staying in one place for too long." Steve chuckled. "Still just be careful and try not to get yourself killed."

"Hey! That's my line pal!" David retorted playfully.

The two friends shared a laugh at that. After a while they both calmed down and Steve extended his hand.

"Good luck."

David clasped his hand with Steven's. "Thanks. Give my best to rest of the squad will you?"

"You got it." promised Steve.

With that David released Steve's hand and boarded the shuttle that would bring him to his destination.

….

**Three weeks later**

**Epsilon Sector**

**Undisclosed system, Mithril Station**

David walked through the hallways passing by other personnel on his way to meet the admiral. As he walked by a window he stopped in front of it to take a moment to look at the numerous facilities that were within a large cavern. When he first arrived in the system on the _Rubicon_ a few hours earlier he got a good look of the station before they docked. Mithril Station was a fairly large complex built inside and on a large hollow asteroid with docking, refueling, and repair ports for any ship that needed quick relief. The station also served as a hub and a haven for Intelligence operatives returning from deep cover assignments. Its purpose was furthered reinforced by its location which was deep within the system's local asteroid field.

What made this particular asteroid field so special was not only the high density of the field but the system's twin Flare stars. Normally a system with a single Flare star was dangerous enough due to the random outbursts of solar flares that occur over its surface which then disrupts energy patterns and harms organic life in rest of the system. So setting up a base of operations in that kind of environment was difficult to say the least, but trying build a station in a system with two Flare stars was suicidal. However this wasn't the case here as the asteroids that made up the field were composed of several minerals that acted as natural filter which protects the station's inhabitants. It also produced a unique form of radiation that refracted a ship's sensors and scanners rendering the station practically invisible. Unless of course you flew right in front of it or already knew where to look. And even if an enemy ship did somehow come across the station they would it being protected by mines, automated defense platforms, and a small but heavily armed fleet of ships.

David continued to stare out a while longer before resuming to his destination. He soon entered a reception area and spotted a familiar face behind a desk.

"Jarvis?! Jarvis Feller?"

The man looked up at the sound of his name being called out. Jarvis Feller was an icy blue-eyed older man of twenty-eight with a slim figure and lengthy dirty blond hair that was barely within regulations and a full beard to go with  
it. Jarvis was also David's former handler for a while until he was reassigned though he didn't say where.

When Jarvis saw David he gave him a broad grin.

"David Angelus! How have you been? I hear you've made Lieutenant."

David nodded.

"I've been alright and yes I made Lieutenant not too long ago. When did you find out about that?" he asked suspiciously.

Jarvis smile didn't leave as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well I know that you Centurions go on a lot of secret missions and all but promotions aren't exactly classified. Plus you know me, I have my sources and it helps that I'm an aide to an admiral."

David blinked.

"Your Rear Admiral Gardner's aide?" David asked surprised at this.

"Yeah, it's really not that bad once you get used to all the… paperwork." he replied with a shudder at the mention of paperwork. Jarvis had never been much of a desk jockey but apparently found a way to cope with it.

"Speaking of the admiral…" Jarvis started suddenly turning serious. "You're to see him about the mission?"

"Yes, but I was just told that I was to report to Admiral Gardner to be briefed. Do you know anything about it?" David asked interested in learning what this was all about.

"Not really, but the old man was looking for someone to take it. I kind of brought up your name and he seemed all for it."

"So you basically volunteered me for this?" asked David raising his eyebrow in ire.

"Don't worry this one shouldn't be much trouble for you. Trust me this mission will be different."

"That's what you said about the LAST mission you "_volunteered_" me for."

The last mission that David was referring to was one that involved eliminating a pirate's nest on an old mining station that the pirates were using as a base of operations to conduct raids and smuggle illegal contraband. Though David was successful in eliminating the pirates, the mission itself had a nasty little twist.

"In my defense that mission turned out to be a surprise for all of us!" he quickly said raising his hands at the sight of David's irritated expression. "Besides how was I supposed to know that those crazy pirates were smuggling an oversized and ARMED genetically mutated monster!?"

David just rolled his.

"Alright fine, but you'd better be right about this one." he warned. "Can you point me to the admiral now?"

"Sure, his office is down the hall, third door to the left. We both came a long way for this so he's expecting you soon. I wouldn't keep him waiting." Jarvis informed him.

"Thanks, take of yourself." David said with a smile.

"You too! And good luck."

At that David nodded and went to meet the admiral. After arriving in front of the office that Jarvis had indicated he reached out and pressed a button and a door chime sounded.

"Enter."

David did so as the door parted and got a look of the interior of the office and its sole occupant. The room itself was as much as David expected a temporary office to be; sparsely decorated with little to no ornamentation or personal possessions save for a flag of the Terra Novus Alliance and some datapads that laid on top of a desk next to a holographic computer that was in use. Which brought him to regard the sole occupant of the room currently sitting at the desk, Rear Admiral Arthur Gardner. Admiral Gardner was a tall broad shouldered man who appeared to be in his late fifties and wore a uniform like David's but with an assortment of medals pinned on the left side of his chest and wore a cap bearing the Alliance symbol that somewhat covered his bald scalp. His eyes were steel blue that held a sharp gaze with a faint scar over his right eye which gave him overall an intimidating appearance.

David immediately stood at attention with a sharp salute.

"Sir! Lieutenant Angelus of Centurion Special Ops reporting for duty!"

The admiral looked up from the terminal and greeted David, to his surprise, with a small smile.

"At ease Lieutenant. I see that you've already met my aide." he observed while returning David's salute.

"Yes sir, he used to be my handler a while back. Sorry if I kept you waiting sir." apologized David no longer saluting.

Admiral Gardner chuckled at this.

"Relax son, catching up with an old friend is hardly grounds for a reprimand." he assured with a casual wave of his hand. "When he mentioned your name I recalled meeting you once before. Three years ago wasn't it?"

David nodded.

"About three years ago yes sir. It was during a debriefing after I found my way back from the Koprulu Sector then again at an award ceremony." David replied remembering the reports and answers he had given to his superiors in both the Alliance Command and Intelligence on Koprulu. Then attending his award ceremony where he received his award from the rear admiral and was later invited to join the Centurions.

"That's right you received the Order of Nova that I personally awarded you with." Gardner recalled aloud.

"I'm surprised you remembered sir."

"You weren't easy to forget. A promising young soldier who performed above and beyond the call of duty under extraordinary circumstances." praised Gardner.

David gave a smile.

"Thank you Admiral. But I don't think you ordered me here to reminisce."

"No. Tell me, how much where you told?" asked Gardner with a serious expression.

"Not much sir. I was only told to report to you for debriefing and that you needed someone for a mission."

The admiral nodded.

"I apologize for all the cloak-and-dagger Lieutenant but given the nature of this mission, it was best to keep it out of prying eyes." he said solemnly.

"And what exactly is the nature of this mission sir? What's this all about?" David asked respectfully though privately he was eager to learn what was going on.

After a moment of silence, David started to wonder if he went out of line but that concern subsided when Gardner signaled for him to take a seat which he did. Then the admiral pressed a button on his console that emitted a faint electronic buzz which David knew was the sound of the room's security systems activating which would disable any surveillance devices.

Admiral Gardner then looked at David with his hands clasped in front of him.

"What I am about to tell you does not leave this room understood?" he asked sternly.

David nodded silently in affirmative.

"Four weeks ago one of our scout ships detected a signal that suddenly started broadcasting from a planet in a remote system of this sector. They analyzed the signal and found out that it belong to an old colony ship from the Frontier Colonization Era, the _Ikazuchi_. When they went in to investigate they also detected a faint energy signature coming from the same planet and reported their findings. Intelligence got a hold of a local contact and his Intel confirmed both the presence of _Ikazuchi_ and identified the source of the energy signature to be what we already suspected."

Admiral Gardner paused for moment and stared at him like he was about to reveal a galactic revelation. "It was a Paksis Pragma….the third and final Paksis." he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

David's eyes widened.

The Paksis Pragma was a massive unknown crystal that was discovered on Earth after it arrived from space over a hundred years ago. The scientists who examined it learned that it radiated immense power and had the potential to become a new source of near unlimited power for Earth and all of Humanity on other colony worlds. Many even believed that would further the search and advancement for more powerful, efficient, and cleaner energy sources.

Though Humanity had many colonies in and outside the Solar system, humans have always been driven to learn what was beyond the next horizon and the discovery of the Paksis was no different. With renewed vigor the scientists further studied the Paksis and soon discovered the means to split its energy and from the primary Paksis created the first Paksis Core. Utilizing this new Paksis Core a fleet of colony ships were built to colonize new worlds with one of the ships to carry the Paksis Core which began the Frontier Colonization Era. With the establishment of this new era, as well as the seemingly unlimited use of the Paksis, many had celebrated for the endless possibilities that laid within their grasp. But like all things of great power when there are people who would use it for a noble purpose, there were just as many people who would use it for more sinister means.

One scientist fearing that the Paksis would fall into the wrong hands divided its remaining energies into two Paksis Cores. The second Paksis Core was given to like-minded people and was hidden away from those who would misuse it. But when the scientists tried to hide the third Paksis Core himself, he was killed by agents of the factions and nations who wished to control it. War soon broke out and not long after disaster struck when a faction attempted to use the third Paksis Core as a weapon against the others. An accident occurred which resulted in millions of deaths and the surface of the Earth was rendered inhabitable.

Realizing that the scientist's worst fears had come true and knowing the disasters that was to follow, those who had been entrusted with the second core gathered as many people as they could from Earth and the other worlds of the Solar system and left with an enormous ragtag fleet of ships that carried advanced technologies bringing the second core with them. Many years later, these people found the hidden world of Terra Novus and soon established the Terra Novus Alliance.

Seeing the look on David's face, Admiral Gardner nodded solemnly.

"I see that I don't need to tell you what this could mean for the war." he said, it was not a question.

David slowly shook his head.

The Harvest War. A few decades after they had settled Terra Novus and started colonizing other worlds or encountering inhabitants of other worlds, human or alien, the Novusians encountered a refugee freighter that was attacked by unknown vessels. After the attackers were destroyed the refugees revealed themselves to be survivors of a colony that came under attack by a fleet of vessels that were similar to the ones that attacked them which they dubbed "Harvesters". When a fleet from Terra Novus was sent to investigate they found wrecks of ships in orbit along with every city and settlement on the planet either destroyed or deserted. One of the Harvester wrecks held a data storage device that revealed a horrifying revelation about the origins of the Harvesters.

They were the survivors of Earth but they were no longer human and the remains of the fleet that the Novusians found were merely a small fraction of the many automated drone fleets that the Harvesters had sent to fulfill a heinous mission.

To harvest the organs of every other human in the galaxy.

And after engaging in several battles with the Harvester fleets, the Harvest War began which has now lasted for more than half a century.

"If we can get a hold of the_ Ikazuchi's_ Paksis Core and combine it with our own we could not only win the war but also…" began Gardner.

"Reclaim Earth…" finished David in awe of the possibility.

He regained his composure from his thoughts before addressing the admiral.

"But sir, on what world exactly is the Paksis Core located?" David asked urgently.

The admiral held a hand up. "All the necessary details you'll need will be ready for you to review. That is if you accept this mission."

David closed his eyes in thought for a moment they snapped open with resolution.

"For a chance to end this war, to save Humanity, and to restore Earth I'll gladly accept this mission sir!" David said with determination.

Gardner gave him a broad smile. "Excellent, I'm happy to hear it son. But before you get started there's something I'd like to show you."

As the admiral rose from his seat he motioned for David to follow after stood up from his. As the two walked into the lobby Gardner turned his attention to Jarvis.

"Mr. Feller, inform the eggheads down at R&D that the volunteer and myself about to pay them a visit. And tell them to roll out their special item." he ordered with a smirk.

"Yes sir!" Jarvis said with a smile of his own.

The admiral nodded and continued walking with David following while giving Jarvis a questioning look. Jarvis just smirked at him.

Though somewhat confused and wondering what this "special item" could be, David followed the admiral until they entered an elevator. The admiral pressed a button and the elevator started moving down.

As the elevator moved admiral Gardner spoke.

"Are you aware of new types of units that are recently undergoing mass production?" he asked curiously.

"I heard a couple of engineers talking something about Mechs but nothing definite. Why sir?"

"You'll see soon enough Lieutenant." Gardner replied with a chuckle.

Before David could ask what the admiral meant by that the elevator came to a stop.

The admiral exited the elevator with a perplexed David following closely behind him.

"Not long after you got back from Koprulu, the brightest minds from the Science and Engineering Divisions started analyzing the schematics on the Terran vehicles from the data you brought back." Gardner explained as they walked. "And although they developed the plans for some impressive units, we didn't have the time or resources to retool the factories to start upgrading or producing new units."

"But that changes now." he finished as they approached a set of heavy blast doors.

The admiral typed a series of numbers before placing his thumb and leveling his right over their respective scanners on the panel. After a moment the panel flashed green and the blast doors opened to a room that was pitch black. At the very moment the two of them walked in a series of ceiling snapped on in succession revealing an enormous hanger.

But more importantly what was inside the hanger.

David stared wide eyed at the different machines lined in neat rows opposite of each other in front of him. On the right were a variety of bipedal machines of various configurations while on the left were larger sleek humanoid machines with each holding different weapons.

As David continued to stare at the machines Admiral Gardner stepped forward and turned to face him.

"As you can see we've been quite busy in developing these new lines of war machines. On the right are the Mechanized Frames which were built to be heavy support for the troops on the field. While on the left are the Mechanoids which designed for more specialized warfare in multiple environments even in space." he commented as he introduced the bipedal and humanoid machines respectively.

"Both however are generally called Mechs as you've already heard. But the "special item" that I want to show you is just this way."

The admiral started to walk away with David shaking himself out of his stupor and quickly followed Gardner into a smaller adjacent hanger. When they arrived the only thing David saw was an unusual fighter that was floating slightly above the deck.

The fighter was about fourteen meters in length with sleek and narrow features with the ends of the level wings pointing forward alongside the cockpit and had a white, black, dark blue, and silver color scheme. It also appeared to have impressive weaponry as he spotted a few next to and under the cockpit and underneath and thin ends of the narrow wings. All in all, it seemed like a very formidable fighter.

"The NAMF-A001 Starhawk, a truly innovative design. It is armed with twin Proton CWIS's, duel Plasma Guns, a single Ion Railgun, two Swarmer Missile Pods, and two Particle Cannons." Gardner informed, pointing out the weapons located next to and under the cockpit and underneath and thin ends of the narrow wings respectively though he couldn't see the missile pods but he had no doubt they were there. "And as you might have noticed it is equipped with anti-gravity landing suspension along with the new Tachyon shields. But two of its more significant features are that its hull is composed of Duratanium alloy and its engines are equipped with a Transphasic Drive."

"Transphasic Drive sir?" David asked in surprise.

That piece of information blew David's mind away. Although he was surprised to hear that the Starhawk was made with Duratanium and had the new Tachyon shield installed, as both were usually given to larger classes of vessels, but to have a Transphasic Drive on something as small as a fighter left him bewildered. The Transphasic Drive was a new form of FTL that was developed to replace the old Warp Drive which allowed a ship to travel what would have taken months with the Warp Drive to a mere few weeks with the Transphasic Drive. But the Transphasic Drive was usually only installed on starships because of the enormous power requirements.

"You heard right Lieutenant. This beauty is capable of short range FTL and it's not the only one. All of our fighters and other attack craft are undergoing refit. Soon they will all have the ability to use FTL." remarked Gardner with a smile. "But that's not its best feature. The Starhawk's most unique feature is the ability to transform into a Mech."

Before David could ask the admiral held his hand up. "All the Starhawk's Mech specs will be sent for you to review."

"So what do you think of her?"

"She's a beauty Admiral." answered David as he looked at the Starhawk in appreciation.

"Good, because as of now she's all yours."

David blinked. "Are you sure sir?"

Gardner nodded.

"I can't think of anyone better to pilot this machine. Besides it was going to be assigned to whoever took this mission as the possibility of acquiring the Paksis is too important for anything less." The admiral said seriously.

"Understood sir! I just need to know how I will get to where I need to go."

"You'll be dropped off by the stealth frigate _Void Shadow_, which will be here within the week giving you plenty of time to get acquainted with your new machine. As for myself, I'll be returning to Jericho. There's still a war going on after all."

Admiral Gardner the held his hand out.

"Good luck son."

Inwardly David started feeling ominous.

_"I've been getting a lot of that lately. Should I be worried?"_

But outwardly shook Gardner's hand. "Thank you sir!"

With that the admiral left and David stared at the Starhawk, wondering what challenges his mission will bring.

….

**Seven months later**

**Gemini system, Taraak**

David sighed as he ate his meal, if of course what he was eating right now could even be called food. At the moment he was eating a bowl of nutrient pellets, the standard and just about the only food eaten on this backwater planet, known by Novusian Intelligence reports as Taraak. As he ate, he couldn't even begin to understand how the men on this planet could even stand eating this stuff.

_"Even the crummy ration packs back home were heaven compared to this crap!" _he reflected sourly.

He had arrived on the all-male homeworld of Taraak three days after he and his new Mech were dropped off via the _Void Shadow _near the edge of Taraakan space in the system of what the guys at Intelligence called the Gemini system, which this world was located in. After he arrived outside the city limits of Taraak's capital, he got in touch with the local contact that he was briefed about who turned out, to his surprise, to be an old man who seemed to be an ordinary farmer.

While staying at the farmer's house he dyed his brown hair black then applied the synthetic skin he was supplied with to make his light complexion to a much tanner one to match the locals. He finished his disguise by placing contact lenses over his eyes changing the color of his eyes' irises from light amethyst to dark brown. And with the old man's help, he forged some false elite citizen ID data in the planet's central database and core computers. It had been ridiculously easy to forge a false ID tag to make him look like a newly risen elite and one with the right amount of credentials to go places that would otherwise be inaccessible. He also learned a great deal about this planet's history as well as Taraak's new "flagship" the _Ikazuchi_, when he hacked into the central computer, bypassing several encryption systems with relative ease.

As far as he could piece together from what he remembered from history and the intelligence reports he was provided with as well as from what information he was able to find, the ship had been part of a colony fleet sent from Earth back in the old Frontier Colonization Era, which had separated due to "unknown circumstances", which was soon followed by the separation of the men and women. While the women settled on the semi-habitable world of Mejere, the men, most of whom were very young at the time, were stuck on this desert world with a wrecked ship. However despite all odds they had survived and over the decades built the male-only society of today. Though how these men even reproduced was a question that baffled him at first, until he found out that the men used advanced cloning facilities that used DNA from "partners" to populate their desert world.

As much as that particular thought sent shivers down his spine, he had to admit they did an excellent job despite their low technological level. They had the best chances of survival in a desert world with their sheer will, hardened resilience, and the necessary knowledge to live in it. Though, he had a great number of personal issues with the policies and attitudes of the people of this world.

One of which was the fact that the men of this world were too arrogant and prideful, those of the higher class treated the lower classes like they were nothing but insects, and the men in the lower classes were too pitiful to fight back. They just accepted their lot in life and didn't want to reach beyond what was there in their own little universe.

Another issue David had with them was their portrayal of women as blood-thirsty tyrannical monsters that feasted on the innards of their male captives. When he read the intelligence reports he received from Admiral Gardner concerning Mejere and Taraak he was somewhat confused. But when he saw it for himself, he was utterly bewildered. He knew for a fact that women, particularly the women of Mejere, didn't even remotely look like those innards-sucking and blood thirsty monsters of those propaganda films that were shown practically every day. Of course he knew a great deal about women, living on his home world of Terra Novus and having met a lot of other women, human or otherwise, during his career in the Terra Novus Alliance military. He also knew a thing or two about the "facts of life", the social and physical aspects of a relationship between men and women; and the fact that men and women could have children together.

He knew however that it was neither his place nor would it serve the purpose of his mission to mention any of this to the men of this planet. And even if he did then he would mostly likely be branded as a heretic by the men. He also knew for a fact that if he _did_ try to tell them on how a man _and_ a woman could have children together, not to mention the way it would be done, they would mostly likely freak out and their government would try to kill him so naturally he kept his peace for both his sake and the sake of the mission.

But David's biggest issue however was their war with the women in question; the men had no idea that they and the women of Mejere, the second planet of the Gemini system, were part of the same human race. The men just despised women and want to fight them, despite the fact that none of them had ever even _seen_ a woman before in their entire lives, though the Mejerians certainly weren't much better off than the men here were. In David's professional opinion, this war was a complete waste of time, precious resources, and lives for both the men and women of the two worlds. He knew that what little resources that Taraak had should have gone instead into improving their society. Worse still was their regard to technology.

Whenever their scientists would discover new technology and principles, it didn't take long for those discoveries to be checked for any and all possible military applications. If said technology had no military benefits then it was either overlooked or cast aside, being seen as useless. A more recent example of this was the new Vanguard units that were newly developed. These machines were at least fifty five feet high and humanoid in appearance, and were designed to be an all-purpose combat unit; it was considered the pinnacle of Taraakan technology and design, following blue-prints from the colony's old homeworld of Earth though most aren't aware of that.

Ironically the blue-prints in question that the Vanguards were based on came from an old Earth frame that was designed for heavy duty vacuum mining and construction. Compared to his Starhawk, with all its abilities, power systems, technology, and state-of-the-art Terra Novusian weaponry, the Vanguards were like toys in comparison to his Mechanoid. David knew this because he had the chance to oversee the production of the Vanguards while taking a tour of one of the many factories that produced the machines. He was sorely disappointed whenever people said that the Vanguard had many fantastic weapons, all of which he noted to be both primitive and purely melee in function with names he didn't care to repeat. In concept the Vanguards were good, but they lacked the technological edge of the Mejerian military. As much as he wanted to point that out, he knew that it wasn't his place to interfere with this society's natural development.

Besides, he was already involved in a far more important war.

So once David had confirmed that the Paksis Pragma was indeed on the _Ikazuchi_, he made plans to leave this planet by insuring that he was assigned to the _Ikazuchi's_ Vangaurd unit. Once he had done that, all he needed to do was to smuggle his Starhawk and gear onto the ship then he would locate and retrieve the Paksis. According to the mission parameters he was given, if he couldn't retrieve the Paksis then he would place a beacon on it and wait for an opportunity to slip away unnoticed, probably during the exhibition match that was scheduled to take place not long after the _Ikazuchi's_ launch. After that a Novusian taskforce could later raid the _Ikazuchi_ and seize the Paksis and plant evidence which would leave the Taraakan government to either blame it on Mejere or pirates.

He found out about the exhibition match when the Taraak Empire's High Command briefed himself and a few other elites of the plan to send out a task force fleet to deal with the female pirates that have been recently raiding supply ships for the past few months. He also knew that the Taraak military had every intention of using the _Ikazuchi_ as a part of the taskforce, and that it was being outfitted into a command battleship in order to serve as the flagship of the fleet. He stored his Mech in a cargo container which was listed as spare Vangaurd components and using his authority as an elite, along with a little "incentive", he had it stored in a nearby empty hanger with an abandoned launch bay without the Taraakan higher up's knowing about it. All he had to do now was arrange a few measures to ensure his escape, play his part, board the ship, and if all went well leave without incident.

David slipped on his Taraak uniform and elite ID tag, gathered his supplies together, and made his way out of the apartment complex that he had stayed in near the city limits. It didn't take long for him to board the _Ikazuchi_ when all he had to do was flash his elite ID and give his papers to get past the security surrounding the ship. He then proceeded in and began making final preparations for when the opportunity to escape arose. First he made sure that Starhawk and his equipment was in place, then he reprogramed all the security systems to either black out or have their video feeds placed in a loop and to shut down power to certain sections of the ship when he gave the signal. Finally he hacked the ship's central computer and left a virus that would cause the ship's weapons to malfunction and to override the hanger bay doors so they would open when he needed make his escape.

As soon as he was done he checked his watch and proceeded to where the orientation ceremony of the _Ikazuchi _would soon take place. On his way there, he arrived at an entrance to a hanger where a number of gun metal gray and faded brown patterned Vanguards were stationed; he decided to take a last scan of the cyclopean eyed, left shoulder humped machines for a while before moving on to his destination. As he walked David knew he would have to wait until the ship was in orbit over the planet, then when the ship was far enough from Taraak, he would carry out his plan, complete his mission, leave, and with luck make his back to Terra Novusian controlled space without incident.

_"And if any unexpected problems come up, I can always change my plans and maybe use some of my other…'talents'.''_ David thought with a sly smile.

...

**Author's Notes: First chapter done! Now this story will later sometimes jump from third person or to one of the other characters in the story just to give you guys a sense of the story's progress but it will mainly focus on David. To give a more mental image of what the Starhawk's fighter mode is, its appearance is kinda of like the Archangel fighter off of the old PC game Tachyon: The Fringe. As for what its Mech mode looks like...well you'll just have to find that out later! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread in any way. This story will also reference StarCraft, Freelancer, Lost Planet, Transformers, and EVE Online none of which I own either but I wish I did. I only own the OCs.**

**Author's Notes: Here's chapter two! Last chapter David arrived on Taraak and is now ready to leave. Though it begs the question just what kind of other talents does he have and will everything go the way he thinks. Or will he unwittingly have a greater part to play. Let's find out! **

**"**Talking**"**

_"Thoughts"_

...

**Chapter 2**

**Boys Meeting Girls**

….

Music starts and a message flashes on the screen underneath a stylized picture of a sun with two symbols in the middle, the crest of Taraak.

**The Empire's Center Presents….**

Another message appears.

**The Empire's Enemy a.k.a. Man's Enemy….**

**Women**

Suddenly a hideous looking creature appears screeching then lashes out with one of its clawed hands at a uniformed man who screamed hysterically as he held his head with both hands.

Then it changes to an image of a group of men running away from a swarm of the same monster.

_"Women are monsters! And men were once there playthings. Taking our forefather's innards and sucking them dry of all life!"_ said an unseen male narrator as images of monsters were shown killing men ending with one screaming.

**Destruction**

_"Over the centuries they have plundered our cities…"_

**Oppression**

_"…they have cruelly oppressed our people with forced labor!"_ he continued as several other images of monstrous females killing men or livestock.

Then it changes to a live feed video of a blurred red ship in the middle of a debris field.

_"And that unspeakable horror is about to strike our empire once again."_

_"This is the shape of our bloodthirsty enemy, the symbol of our sacrifice!"_ the images change to a scene of two men mourning in front of a grave in a cemetery.

_"Even those who are fortunate enough to survive are left horribly scarred after their encounters with women."_ he said as scene changes to a video of scarred men and other men who shivered and stared wide eyed with terror.

_"But the time has finally come to erase the memories of those unbearable years of humiliation and degradation!" the narrator proclaimed as an image of a hieroglyphic depicting men in servitude to women shattering to pieces._

**The time has come for the Empire to regain its prestige!**

The propaganda video ended with the symbol of the flag of Taraak.

As he stood in a line of Taraakan elite officers next to a man with long black hair that reached past the shoulders, David briefly put his hand to his head as he felt a headache coming on.

_"This is by far the dumbest one I've ever heard since I arrived on this miserable rock!"_ he thought with barely restrained disgust.

He let out a small sigh of exasperation. _"I just got to keep it together a little longer and endure this nonsense then I'll be far away from here."_

_"Speaking of which, that arrogant wind bag of a commander should be making his speech right about now." _ he predicted as he braced himself for what was about to come next.

As if on cue a bald, mustache man in a blue uniform on the podium flanked by two other men in green uniforms started to speak.

"MY COMRADES! MY BROTHERS! WE NOW GO INTO BATTLE TO PROVE THE MANHOOD OF THE GLOURIOUS EMPIRE OF TARAAK!" the Taraakan Prime Minister and captain of the _Ikazuchi_ shouted with a clenched fist in the air as his voice carried throughout the courtyard that was filled with Taraakan officers and cadets while ceremonial Vanguards stood next to the podium or just outside of the courtyard. The bustling city street's we're packed with citizens, all giving cries of celebration and rejoice of Taraak's latest warship's launch with the _Ikazuchi_ looming just above them. The _Ikazuchi_ was in fact just the half of the Pioneer ship that they arrived on; adding on new weapons and parts to make it ready to wage war against the women of Mejere.

"Our great forefather Grand Pa guided us here to this world! But we will now leave this holy land that we have cultivated with our hands in order to regain the pride of men! For today we have a new power in our grasp which will change our very history!" he continued eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.

"In other words, we have now reached the point…when we will clench down the fist of justice…and utterly crush our horrible nemesis, women!" this made the crowd cheer even louder.

_"God I hope this crap wraps up soon."_ David fumed silently in annoyance.

….

**Elsewhere on Taraak…**

Inside a cluttered room, a young boy was sitting cross-legged and was gathering a few items while the Prime Minister gave his speech from a nearby television. He had wild dark blue hair that was tied into a pony tail with a tan complexion and hazel eyes. He wore an orange brown lined jacket over a black long sleeved undershirt along with baggy brown jeans and wore an ID card around his neck.

With a sigh he lowered his head with a glum expression on his face.

"I really wish I hadn't said that…"

_Flashback…_

_"Hey look at this everyone!" a worker called out as he lifted a part with a mark over his head._

_"What's he doing?" _

_"Every day we put our hearts and souls into polishing these parts like this one. But did you guys know that someone from this very room came to me the other day and claimed that he'd bring us a complete Van-type with this part in it for every one of us to see?" he asked drawing a few mummers of disbelief from the crowd. _

_And the guy who's gonna pull this off is the one and only… Hibiki Tokai! he said pointing to the young dark blue haired teen. _

_"That is what you said, right Hibiki?" he asked in a condensing tone while a few other guys had smug grins on their faces. "You're gonna go steal one of the Vangaurds and show the rest of us third class citizens the fighting machine that we never get to see?"_

_Hibiki said nothing as continued to his nutrient pellets._

_"Hey, what's the matter Hibiki? Don't you have nothing to say? Or are you not feeling to talkative today because everything you said before was all bunch of lies? After all, we all know you say stupid things from time to time when there's no way you-"_

_Hibiki stood and slammed his palms against the table and scattering pellets. _

_"I WASN'T LYING about that!" he yelled defensively. "And if you wanna see one that badly…"_

_"Then you going to get it!" he finished, crossing his arms and giving a cocky grin._

_"Everybody hear what he said?" the worker asked the crowd. _

_"YEAH!" they all cheered at once._

_Flashback ends… _

"I'm really stupid aren't I? Why do I always have to get so carried away?" Hibiki asked no one in particular.

"Stupid!"

He continued to sit there with his head down for a moment.

"Dammit all…alright…" he muttered raising his head with a look of determination. "No matter how dumb I am I'm still a guy and Hibiki 'The Man' _never _breaks his WORD!" he said resolutely.

With that he stands, grabs his bag and leaves for the _Ikazuchi_.

….

**Back at the ****_Ikazuchi's_** **launch ceremony…**

"…We will destroy the vile women of Mejere and the strength of Men, will destroy them!"

_"Yeah right. Especially when you plan on countering their Dreads with ground units."_ David thought sarcastically. _"And there's still three hours of this nonsense to go!"_

For a moment he looked up and thought he saw something orange running across the walkways.

_"Probably nothing to worry about."_ But something told him not to be so sure.

….

**At the same time…**

Hibiki sprinted across the walkways that led to the _Ikazuchi_, sneaking his way past the area where they held the launch ceremony.

As he made his way to the _Ikazuchi_ he started to remember the words of his fellow third class citizens.

_Flashback…_

_"Come on Hibiki you know we're only third class citizens." one said holding up his ID tag._

_Flashback ends…_

_"No…"_

_Flashback…_

_"Try not to do anything too stupid Hibiki!"_

_"All we have to do is be quiet and keep making parts like these and we'll always have food in our bellies."_

_"Don't be so hotheaded shorty. You can't change what we are no matter how hard you try!"_

_Flashback ends…_

_"Maybe I am hotheaded."_ Hibiki thought to himself as he climbed a ladder. _"It's just that my blood is screaming, telling me that there's more out there in life."_

_Flashback…_

_"Forget about it! You gatta know where you stand."_

_"Only dimwits who let emotions get carried away have asinine dreams like that."_

_"If you believe that why don't you prove it? And not just with words but with actions!"_

_Flashback ends…_

_"Alright I will!"_ Hibiki resolved as continued to climb.

….

**Meanwhile…**

While Hibiki was making his way up to the_ Ikazuchi_, David was at the ceremony barely listening as the pompous Taraakan bureaucrat was giving his speech.

"The power it holds will help rebuild the future of our great Empire! The ship that led us to this fatherland, the _Ikazuchi _has been revived! And our young men have boarded this ship as its new officers. YOU are the future of Taraak!"

"There is no force in this universe that we need fear with our manly strength!" the Prime Minister boasted.

David resisted the urge to snort at that. _"Oh please you old blowhard! If you even knew half the forces that were in this galaxy… You'd be the first one to find plenty of reasons to be afraid."_

He mentally started to count the seconds when he would leave this backwater far behind him.

….

**With Hibiki...**

While the Prime Minister was giving his speech, Hibiki climbed out of an air shaft and sprinted across more walkways and soon coming upon a door.

As he went to work he could hear could hear the Prime Minister continuing his speech.

"To repay the great first generation that began with Grand Pa, we must now combine the strengths of the second and third generations!"

Hibiki pull out a pocket watch shaped device from his satchel clicking it three times with it flashing yellow before placing it on the door. Then he carefully slides a second device into a slot of the first with Prime Minister carrying on all the while.

"And at the moment they become one…our long awaited dreams will come true!" declared the Prime Minister just as Hibiki unlocked the door at that very moment.

Hibiki grinned.

….

The Minister thumped a fist against his chest. "We all feel it in our hearts! The new breath coming from the _Ikazuchi_! Look upon him! Praise him! This is the flagship of the Taraak Imperial Army!"

David lazily looked up. _"Dramatic speech, cue lights…"_

Just then spotlights lit up, illuminating the _Ikazuchi_ for all to see.

The crowd went wild…

David rolled his eyes.

Prime Minister continued undaunted. "You the third generation of Taraak, the first graduates of the Military Academy, were born to board the new _Ikazuchi_! Congratulations!"

"You have the blood of the first generation flowing through your veins and you are all legitimate brothers to those original eight men! Including our forefather Grand Pa!" he praised to the new cadets and officers.

Out of the corner of his eye, David noticed a man with short blond hair yawning. Needless to say David shared the man's sentiment.

….

**_Ikazuchi's_**** loading area…**

"Man I can't stand all this smoke." a dock worker wheezed as he coughed.

"Hey! That thing belongs over here not over there!" he shouted to another worker. He then noticed something next to the crates being loaded up onto the conveyor belt. But before he could get a good look at it steam rose up blinding the worker and sent him coughing anew.

….

**On the ****_Ikazuchi_****…**

Hibiki carefully sneaked his way up some stairs and climbed up a ladder under the noses of a couple of off-duty crew members who were watching a T.V. broadcast of the Prime Minister giving his speech.

"As most of you already know, the main objective of our mission is to end the piracy that has been plaguing our borders by the women encircling our realm recently. But do not forget that you are on a battlefield, work diligently and don't allow yourselves to be caught off guard!" he ordered which was followed by a chorus of "Yes sir!".

All the while Hibiki had snuck past the engineering crew as he raced his way down the corridor to the Vanguard hanger.

Hibiki finally arrived at the door panting heavily as he leaned on it. "…Oh man, this ships' a lot bigger than I thought it would be!"

He saw a hand print scanner and pulled out a transparent glove. "It's a really good thing that I haven't left anything to chance." He slipped it on and pulled out a spray can, spraying on glove. "I'd be in real trouble I didn't do my homework."

He pressed his hand to the scanner.

It flashed red.

"Palm print does not match, reenter within thirty seconds." a male electronic voice stated.

"Huh?! N-no way!" he shouted quietly in disbelief.

….

"Enough time wasted, why wait for the designated hour to arrive?" The Prime Minister said slamming his hand onto the podium. "Wouldn't you agree with me men?" He shouted raising his fist into the air as they followed suit.

David raised an eyebrow at that. _"Well that's surprising; he's taking the ship out two hours early. It shouldn't be a problem, after all the sooner I get off this world the better!" _

_"Though I can imagine the folks and engineers on the Ikazuchi won't be too happy to hear about this."_ he thought with a smirk.

….

"What's that?! He's starting it two hours earlier?!" asked one off-duty crew member as looked at his comrade in surprise and shock.

"Get to your stations!" bellowed the head engineer, causing the rest of the engineering team to scramble to their posts.

….

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Come on!" Hibiki pressed his hand repeatedly harder into the terminal. "Why is this happening?! I couldn't have screwed anything up, I did everything right this time!" he swung his hand in the air, spitting and blowing on the glove.

"Seven."

"Six.

"Five."

"Four."

"Three."

He pressed his gloved palm onto the scanner once more and prayed.

"Two."

The scanner canceled the countdown and unlocked the door, registering his fake palm print as he breathed a sigh of relief. The door opened revealing two rows of Vanguards.

He smirked triumphantly as he crossed his arms. "Heh, not bad eh? That was a piece of cake."

….

"_Ikazuchi_."

_"Ikazuchi."_

The crowd was chanting the warship's name over and over again as the speech continued.

"Your voices have been heard! Allow me to answer your demands with this!" Trumpets began to play as cables and robotic arms we're detached with the ship's systems coming online.

….

"Huh it's not here! Where is it?" Hibiki was currently walking in between the two rows of machines, looking for the one with the part he marked.

"It's not this one. Not this one."

"Maybe they didn't use the part because of the scratch..." he mused in a depressed voice. Then his eyes lit up as he saw the Vanguard with his mark.

"So that's where you been hiding partner!" he said excitedly as he eyed the machine in amazement, marveling at the finished product of all his fellow third classed citizens. "I gotta say, you're looking pretty impressive."

His eyes gleamed with glee and ran up to the machine. "I'll take you home with me right now!"

….

"Now launch the _Ikazuchi_!"

At the Prime Minister's command the thrusters kicked in and began to blast the Taraakan Flagship from its platform. The _Ikazuchi_ had begun its voyage.

David smiled.

_"Finally!"_

….

Hibiki jumped reaching to the machine with his hand out in order climb up to its cockpit, but before he could even reach the hatch he was slowly being pulled away from the Vanguard. "W-wait a sec!"

He let out scream of panic as he fell back toward the deck from the force of the _Ikazuchi_ lifting off. His head hit the metal floor hard while being partially crushed by the items and crates that weren't tied down.

"W-what happened?"

….

As the _Ikazuchi _began its ascendant past the stratosphere, on looking eyes watched with pride and amazement, all except for one elderly farmer working on a crop field.

….

**Somewhere on Taraak…**

In a darkened room a shadowy figure watched as the _Ikazuchi_ departed for space.

"The time of departure has arrived…" said the unseen man ominously as he clutched the arms of his chair tightly.

….  
The _Ikazuchi_ ejected its lift off thrusters, as Hibiki looked out a window in the Vanguard hanger with panic.

"H-hah hah, w-were going up..." he chuckled with a nervous grin.

….

**Several hours later, in orbit around the planet of Taraak…**

"CHEERS!" cried several men as they lifted they're glasses into the air.

The liftoff came without a single problem and the mighty battleship was now in synchronized orbit over the men's homeworld awaiting their escort and support fleet to join them in their glorious crusade against the "monsters" of Mejere. On the ship's main hall, the cadets of the Taraak Army were busy enjoying the inauguration ceremonies as they drank their wine and began making conversations with one another.

"I can't wait to go into battle!"

"Neither can I!"

"When can we see those new weapons we heard so much about?"

"Those new Vanguards will surely put those women in their rightful places!"

"You're piloting a Vanguard right?"

"Say, when all of this is over, do you want to make a kid?"

"Oh, a kid with you? That's not half of a bad idea."

As David walked through a crowd in the auditorium, a couple of cadets in conversation noticed him walking by.

"Hey, isn't that the Elite who skipped a rank and became an Ensign in the academy?"

"His name's David Angelus. Rumor has it he exposed a corrupt instructor who was taking bribes and doing some other illegal stuff at the academy. The scariest part is that he got the instructor to confess in front of the other members of the staff. David didn't even rough up the guy, either, just talked it out of him. Like he knew what the guy was thinking."

"Creepy."

"Yeah but the strangest part is after all that the higher up's were so impressed with him they promoted him to ensign and was allowed to have his pick of any assignment he wanted and he chose this."

"Wow! That guy really is dedicated to the cause isn't he? Kinda makes me think that he's a little nuts for wanting this job!"

"Say what you like, but he's one of the best pilots I've ever seen. And you got to admit, he's not bad looking either."

"Yeah…maybe I should ask him if he wouldn't mind having a kid with me."

"Hah! Good luck with that. I think that guy's a bit strange if you ask me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you're not the first guy to offer, and he turns it down every time. It's like he's not into his fellow man or something. I'll say this much about David, if he isn't careful he's going to end up being one lonely man."

As soon as the two were out of earshot, David shuddered as he heard every single word they said. The idea of him having a kid with another guy made him ill and it took all of his training and self-discipline to keep himself from throwing up. He was well aware of his reputation on Taraak of course, but it wasn't really that big of deal. All he did was "glean" some facts from the guy's psyche about his illicit activities. But ever since that day he had been dodging requests left and right from various Taraakan men to "partner up" for the remainder of the time he was there.

At that moment he couldn't help but think of the person who had put him in this mess. As he glanced at the ceiling with narrowed eyes, one thought was going through his mind.

_"Jarvis wherever you are…I HATE YOU!"_

….

**At an unknown location…**

Jarvis was shifted through some datapads when he let out a sneeze.

"Hmm, someone must be talking about me." he muttered.

He shrugged. _"Oh well, back to work. I wonder how David's been doing."_

….

After a moment David kept walking until he spotted a familiar face standing with a group of other cadets. When he moved in closer he recognized one of the men as the same one he stood next to earlier at the ceremony.

"Hey, Duelo! I heard that you made the top of your class."

David saw that the individual named Duelo simply gave a nod as he took a slow small sip of his wine. He was a tall individual with long black hair with one bang covering the right side of his face. He carried himself as an elite but had the demeanor of an educated, yet creative person of mind.

"I assume you'll be assigned to headquarters, right Duelo?" One recruit asked him.

Duelo didn't respond to the question and just kept his stoic expression.

"With a record like yours you could do whatever you want!" another recruit said.

"I heard he submitted his assignment request form completely blank!" commented a cadet. Both of the other recruits gave a surprised look at the long haired man while David gave a curious one.

_"Interesting…that means he's either unsure of himself or he didn't find anything that would hold his interest."_ David mused. Though from what he observed of Duelo earlier, it was more likely the later.

At that moment he saw someone approaching them and they apparently heard him as they turned to see a slightly shorter male with shock blond hair and blue eyes holding a box of peppermint colored nutrient pellets.

"Hey there, is everyone having a good time?" he asked cheerfully, to David his voice sounded somewhat whiney and he seemed to be full of himself. He then pointed to the box in his hand.

"This is a sample of our company's new product, it's our own unique formula special nutrition tablet." he told them informatively, and then he leaned in and whispered conspiringly. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but the quality of ingredients is far superior to other pellets."

"I'll let you have a free taste if you like." he said taking one of the pellets and holding it out to them.

Two of the cadets gave a rather nervous look at the newcomer before handing out their individual replies to the guy in question.

"Uhh, thanks a lot but no thanks."

"Sorry, but I'm pretty full right now."

Their answers acted like nails, slowly flattening a tire. The young man briefly showed his disappointed before but stepped back and put the pill back in its box.

"Oh really? That's quite a shame, you may never get a chance to eat this good again." he said with a fake smile and a shrug of his shoulders before he turned his attention to two other cadets.

"Hey there, you two look like gentlemen of distinction!" he complemented getting their attention. "What do ya say? Wanna try out this new pellet? I personally recommend it!" he offered. One turned his head with a slight annoyed look, matching the previous two before walking away with his friend with the young man following closely behind them.

"Who was that guy?" one asked in an annoyed tone.

"His name is Bart, his father runs the Garsus foods. Let's just say his company is keeping us all fed and not go any further than that."

"I think I'm getting a case of heart burn..." another cadet said as he clutched his chest in slight exaggeration.

David let out a quite chuckle at that.

The lights suddenly flicked off and a screen turned on behind the statue of Grand Pa as a voice over the intercom began to speak.

_"Gentleman please turn your attention to the large screen."_

A count down was briefly shown before the film began to play.

**Tsukumo Version Van-Type Fighter**

_"Stab! Pierce! And Slay! With these all-purpose accessories, the Tsukumo Van-Type Fighter is a weapon unto itself! It is ready to slam down the fist of justice upon our enemies! It is the soldier on the frontlines of our glorious Empire! Be it the skies, the seas, the plains, the mountains! There is no terrain that the pride of the Empire cannot traverse! The Tsukumo Version Van-Type Fighter! A new day dawns right before are very eyes."_ The film had shown many images showing off the Vanguards which then ended with a group of young boys and older men cheering for the Vanguards.

The recruits and cadets shouted cheers of praise at the looks of the machines, excited to pilot such machines.

Bart just looked at the video in disbelief. "There so…dorky."

Despite the blond man being an odd ball, David couldn't agree with him more.

The same voice from the intercom spoke again. _"How about a big round of applause for our fleet of Taskumo Version Van-Type Fighters!"_

The curtains parted while the screen and banner lifted to reveal two gates opening to the side as the lights flicked on again and the Vanguards turned on platforms towards the crowd as they, except David, Duelo, and Bart, continued to applause and cheer.

Suddenly the cheers and applauses stopped as the assembled men noticed a young blue feral haired Taraakan boy, who looked to be at least sixteen, clutching onto a Vanguard.

David blinked. _"Well…this is a surprise. He must have been the something I noticed running across the walkways earlier."_

The boy choked out a nervous laugh at them as the rest of the crowd looked at with surprise and confusion.

"Isn't that a third class citizen?" one cadet shouted out.

The Prime Minister quickly stood up.

"What are you doing?! Get that boy!" he shouted angrily.

A few guards began to swarm toward the unfortunate teen. The boy jumped off the Vanguard and tried to escape, kicking one of the guards away and dashed towards the statue, climbing it to get away from them. "Leave me alone! Get away from me!" he kicked another guard and kicked another's baton away while avoiding another one.

The recruits cheered, acting like it was a show with Bart shouting from the crowd. "I'm rooting for you shorty!"

Duelo just looked on for a moment with his hand resting against his chin before closing his eyes. "Pointless..."

David nodded in agreement. Though to be fair, the boy was putting up a decent fight for someone with no combat experience.

Of course that wasn't saying much considering he was up against such poorly trained guards.

Upon hearing Bart making fun of his height, the boy leapt from the statue and kneeing a guard in the face, heading towards the crowd with the intent of pounding on Bart. "Who the hell was the one to call me shorty!" he never made it to the crowd as a guard tackled him from behind.

He tried to push the guy off. "Dammit let go of me you bastard!" he growled angrily before a guard whacked him hard on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

David watched as the guards drag the boy off to the brig.

_"This will certainly complicate things."_ he thought dryly.

….

On the command deck of the _Ikazuchi_, crewman worked at their stations as they fulfilled their tasks.

"The fleet is now approaching us!" reported a communications officer.

"Proceed to Half-Moon formation." ordered the first officer to the helmsmen.

A signal then sounded. "Captain on the bridge!" said a helmsman.

The Prime Minister along with the Supreme Commander entered the bridge via platform lift. "That runt turned our ceremony into a shamble!" He said angrily as the platform locked into position with two other officers facing him.

A message was received a short moment after the Minister's rant. "The escort ship Maborochi is hailing us with questions concerning the exhibition match sir." relayed the comms officer.

The Prime Minister extended his hand, palm flat. "The exhibition match is canceled! Order all ships to move into position."

"Yes sir!"

The minister grunted as his hands clenched into the arm rests of his chair. "That third class brat, he won't get away with ruining everything. He'll be publicly executed for this!"

….

Hibiki grunted in pain as he was tossed into a cluttered cell with green laser fences sealing him in. He kneeled up and looked at the guards angrily. "Bastards! Don't just dump me into some storage room! You could at least put me in a real jail!"

They simply looked at down at him. "This cell may be used for storage, but this is still a real brig so simmer down your highness!" one of the guards teased.

"They've decided to give you a public execution, and it won't be a quick and painless one." the second guard informed him with a smirk.

The guard on Hibiki's right turned his head to the side. "I-Type Number 6."

"Beep! Beep!" A small floating pod like robot floated over to them.

"Watch him understood?"

"Beep! Beep! Roger!" the robot replied as it took up its assigned position facing Hibiki in front of the cell.

The guards then left leaving Hibiki alone with the robot.

Hibiki sighed.

"Why do things always get messed up in my life?" he asked depressingly. He looked around to make sure the guards we're gone before turning to the robot, hoping to persuade the small pod like machine to let him out.

"Hey partner? Why don't you be a pal and let me out? We were both born in a factory right? So that means we're kinda like brothers right? Huh? Right?" he pleaded as he crawled towards the machine and begged on his and knees.

The machine just continued to float there. "We are composed of completely different materials, there for the term brothers is incorrect."

Hibiki blink and raised his hands to his sides. "I got this great generator I can install in you if you let me out of here!" he bowed his head and his hands into a lower as he continued to beg.

The robot's screen suddenly popped up a big red X. "Denied! The subject is making an improper request. Instigation of attempted bribery and escape are crimes! Therefore..."

Hibiki looked up in confusion. "Therefore...?" he asked with trepidation.

"...Punishment."

The small machine sent a bolt of electricity towards Hibiki who screamed as he received a painful shock.

….

**Elsewhere on the ****_Ikazuchi_****…**

David walked through the corridors in deep thought as he was deciding on what to do next.

_"Well this is a fine mess! Thanks to the kid's little stunt, that asshole of a Prime Minister canceled the exhibition match so I can't sabotage the Vanguards and locate the Paksis then just slip out with my own Mech in the confusion."_ he thought with an irritated sigh.

_"I guess I'll just have to go with Plan B. I'll have to release the virus to make the Ikazuchi's systems go haywire. While they deal with all the chaos the virus will cause, I'll be able to either locate or retrieve the Paksis and fly out of here before they even realize what's happening. It's not a perfect plan and it'll be messier than I would like. But it's what I've got."_ he pulled out a remote out of his pocket with his thumb over a button.

_"I just hope this plan works."_ he prayed silently.

Just as he was about to release the virus he heard loud explosion and the ship started to violently shake causing David to stumble slightly.

"What the hell…? Is this ship under attack?" he put the remote back in his pocket and headed for the nearest port hole to see what was going on.

When he arrived at one he looked out into space and saw what had caused the ship to shake.

_"Dreads…"_

….

**Moments earlier…**

After Hibiki recovered from the robot's attack, he looked up in rage at it and shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Who do you think I am?!"

The robot's screen then flashed with new codes scrolling down on it. "Identity scan of subject commencing."

As Hibiki continued to rant at the small machine, the robot was scanning his identity for a match in its database. "Scan complete ... You are-"

Before it could finish an explosion caused the robotic guard to lose its balance temporarily, causing it to pitch forward and slam into the cell's laser security grid that immediately short-circuited the robot and the grid's systems along with it. The energy bars remained slightly active though with lower power and intensity.

….

The space around the _Ikazuchi_ suddenly became a warzone as three ships leaving blue trails began attacking it.

….

To the surprise of everyone on the bridge the command deck shuddered as an explosion rocketed the ship.

"I gave an order to stop the exhibition!" yelled the thoroughly confused Prime Minister angrily.

"This isn't part of the exhibition!" replied an officer who was working furiously on his console.

"It's the women their mounting a surprise attack!" cried another with a panicked voice.

The Minister's face contorted with enraged disbelief.

"WHAT?!"

….

As he looked on David saw blues flashes of laser bolts, streaks of cannon fire that lighting up void of space, and explosions coming from missiles that made direct hits. David nodded as he recognized the Taraak fleet's attackers to be none other than the Mejere's Dread fighters.

"So those are Dreads. Judging from the lack of color uniform and identification their not from Mejere's Military. These must be the female Mejerian pirates that I've heard so much about." David said to himself as he watched in appreciation of the many sleek and elegantly well-designed multi-colored fighters dodging the incoming yellow pulse laser and kinetic fire being directed against them by the blockier Taraarkan ships. But so far, the only thing that the Taraak ships were able to hit was their own ships as the pulse cannons were too slow to lock on their more nimble adversaries.

_"Very clever, their using the Taraakan ship's slower rate of fire to their advantage by hiding their fighters in the background fire. This not only protects them but also turns the Taraakan ship's own firepower against them."_ he nodded in admiration of the pilot's skills.

He did a comprehensive study of the Mejerian's main line of fighters from the intelligence files he was given and knew that compared to the Vanguards, the Dreads was far superior in mobility, range, technology, and firepower. Especially since they were based off old Earth space racers which were craft that were designed solely to race though space. But even with all that the Dreads were nothing but compared to his Starhawk which could fly circles around them and overpower them as well making the Vanguards less than nothing.

As much as he hated to admit it, David knew better that to try to stop this battle between genders of the same human blood. He hated the thought of humans killing each other for such stupid reasons. But he had a mission to complete and it wasn't going to get done any faster with him standing around gawking.

_"Not exactly what I had in mind but I'll take it. All this commotion should make it easier for me to move around the ship unhindered. But first I'd better head back to my quarters and get my gear."_ he thought as made a beeline straight for the room he was assigned.

….

**On the bridge…**

"Formation has been broken!" reported a crew member.

"All ships! Guard the _Ikazuchi_!" ordered the Prime Minister.

"The enemy forces have broken through!" another officer yelled in panic.

….

In the deep vacuum of space, at some distance away from the battle was a sleek three pronged red cruiser that was hiding among a nearby debris field that served as the main pirate vessel. It stood poised and ready to strike. Though the female pirates onboard were ready to intervene they could already see that the Dread squadrons had everything under control. On the cruiser's command bridge, an old woman in robes smiled as she and her second in command witnessed the one sided battle.

"Well Captain, it looks like we've caught a big one." the silver haired commander remarked with a smile.

The captain raised her head.

"Hmm, today seems to be our lucky day."

….

As the battle went on the crew of the _Ikazuchi_ on all decks ran to their respective tasks as the alert klaxon sounded.

All while Hibiki found himself yet again under a pile of assorted items. After he finally got himself out of the pile he stared wide eyed with biwilderment.

"W-ha…What's going on now?"

….

David finally reached his quarters after running past several other crew members who were in just as much of a hurry to get to their stations. After got inside he locked the door behind him he went to a wall near his bed went down on one knee and pried a panel open. It revealed a secret compartment with a large metal crate inside.

He pulled the crate out and typed a series of numbers on the keypad. When he finished inputting the code a light on the crate's keypad flashed green and the crate unlocked with a snap. He quickly opened it and examined the contents.

The first thing he saw was a black lightly armored form-fitting inner bodysuit that had artificial muscle fibers on the biceps, triceps, abs, calves, and joints which would give the wearer increased strength.

Next he found a gunmetal grey armor beside the bodysuit. The Aegis Mark III Armor was tailored for commandos who were deployed for long-term operations and was designed with that in mind. The layered armor was composed of Cerutanium, a combination of Titanium and ceramic materials that made it into a very lightweight but extremely resilient alloy that conducts almost no heat making it also especially heat-resistant and effective against energy-based weapons. It was equipped with a personal energy shield that resists both kinetic and energy-based weapons and a neural interface which allowed interaction between it and the bodysuit allowing for greater speed, agility, and flexibility even while wearing the armor. The helmet had a narrow one-way reflective black visor and was equipped with a holographic tactical and H.U.D. display interfaces that relays combat and sensory data. The helmet's visor also offered multiple vision modes, changing the visor into the color of whatever vision was in use; black for normal, red for infrared, green for night, yellow for vibration, purple for ultraviolet, orange for thermal, and white for electromagnetic field.

He finally found his weapons which were fairly standard-issued, a Plasma Assault Rifle, Plasma Pistol, a few assorted disk-shaped grenades, a supply of Plasma Power Cells for his weapons, and the beacon he was given, until he came across the one non-standard gear in the crate or rather two.

His duel Ishukone Nova Knives.

The blades were slightly over seven inches that interestingly got its name from the heated plasma edge of the blade that glowed an eerie blue which was formed by a thermic igniter and linear gravity condenser, powered by an Energy Fuel Cell.

He came into possession of these knives when won them from a fellow Centurion in a game of poker, something that he didn't play often, and was told that he got them off of a couple of Caldari agents who were chasing him while he was on an assignment in the distant New Eden cluster. They apparently thought he was a spy for Gallente; needless to say it didn't end very well for them. He also said that he found out that the knives were a new prototype of the series and offered improved all-round performance over the previous models.

A couple of battles later they quickly became David's favorite and started to carry them wherever he went as he learned that the plasma edged blades could carve through even the toughest armor or shields, especially when charged.

After double checking to make sure everything was there he took the gear out and put them on his bed. As he started to change he stopped when he noticed that he was still wearing his elite ID tag.

_"I won't need this anymore."_ snapping the ID tag off his neck and tossing it under the bed.

When got his armor on he set his plasma weapons to stun, as he didn't want to cause any unnecessary casualties if he could help it, holstered his pistol at his hip and sheathed a Nova Knife next to it while sheathing his second Nova Knife to a diagonal strap on his chest then gripped his plasma rifle.

David knew that even with all the chaos going on it would be impossible for at least one crewman running around _not_ to notice him. So he decided to try a little trick he learned back at Koprulu.

For a moment nothing seemed to be happening, suddenly David vanished and was nowhere to be seen.

Then the opened and closed as if someone had left.

_"Now the real fun begins…"_

….

The Dreads continued to fire and bombard the flagship while the men aboard we're still in a state of panic. The various pulse laser turrets and artillery guns have little to no accuracy as the Dreads bobbed and weaved through the fire.

….

"Escort ship _Hijiri_ has been destroyed!"

"The _Maborochi's_ down to!"

"The _Ikazuchi's_ new sections have been breached!"

"What deplorable tactics! They're hiding in the back ground fire." the Minister growled in disgust.

The commander next to him turned to the helmsmen. "Level off the _Ikazuchi_!"

"Send the Vanguards out!" the Prime Minister ordered to the communications officer.

"If we lose this battle because we don't use our latest weapons, then we'll bring shame to our fore fathers!" the Minister snarled as he looked at the commander with fury.

….

Sirens all across the ship sounded as the Minister's came over the intercom.

_"Attention cadets! It is time for you to reclaim you heritage! Take you positions and destroy the enemy!"_

As one the cadets scrambled immediately to the launch areas of the Vanguard hanger.

….

David looked up at one of the intercoms with narrowed eyes. _"That idiot! Doesn't he realize that he's just giving the Dreads more targets to shoot at?"_

He shook his head.

_"Whatever. If the bastard wants to buy me more time with his men's lives that's fine by me! I've got my own mission to worry about."_

With that he kept running to his objective.

….

As Dreads pressed their attack, gunnery crews were hard pressed to turn the turrets faster to take out the Dreads but they ended up damaging one of their own ships.

….

As the cadets in the locker room pulled on their pilot suits one of them turned to the cadet next to him.

"Has anyone seen Bart around?"

"Who cares?"

"Did anyone see David?"

"I don't know but we can't wait for him!"

….

Back at the now empty main hall a speaker blared out.

_"Switching to sub-zero gravity in order to launch the Vanguards! Standby for weightless conditions!"_

In that moment as the artificial gravity went off all the tables, chairs, and any other items that weren't nailed down to the floor floated into the air along with Bart who screamed as he spiraled out of control.

….

A few well-placed lasers penetrated the hull of the _Ikazuchi_, setting fires in a few places of the ship. As the mechanic's worked to put out the fires, the bridge was analyzing the damages on the warship.

"Several deployment mechanisms in the runway are offline!" reported a bridge hand.

"Launch all the Vanguards we can!" ordered the Minister.

….

"What?" a Head mechanic for the Vanguard's turned around. "All pilots launch any Vanguard that's prepped and ready to go!"

The Pilots climbed into the machines as the arms closed and the head lowered. The legs were released from the locks and moved into the launch pads and ejected from the hanger while Bart watched on in amazement from his hiding place as the machines were jettisoned into battle.

….

Emerging from the _Ikazuchi_, several of the humanoid battle machines managed to make it into space and charged toward the Dreads. However with just raw recruits with little combat experience outside of simulators, the Vanguards were nothing more than animated debris flying out uselessly in space and were no threat to the Dreads. A few managed to latch onto some of the Dreads as they passed by the Vanguards, but without the proper training, experience, or weapons, they could do little to stop the Dreads.

"Hey, what are these things?! They're getting in my way!" shouted a suited Dread pilot as she spotted several Vanguards were pounding their fists on the canopy of her Dread.

"Don't worry about the Vanguard's. Concentrate on the enemy flagship." ordered The Dread team leader in a cool tone as she kept her focus and calm.

"Roger!"

Two of the Dreads accompanied their leader's Dread as they made a strafing run at the _Ikazuchi_.

….

At that moment Hibiki had just shorted out the laser grid to his cell.

"Never underestimate a mechanic's know-how!" he boasted, grinning in triumph.

He slowly got up and started to run but stopped and turned to look at the small robot that zapped him a bit ago as it with pity as it continued to make a noise, that to him, sounded like someone in pain.

….

David pressed himself against the wall as he neared one of the entrances to engineering where the Paksis was located. However the only thing that was standing in between him and the Paksis was a handful of guards.

_"I could take them out, but the fight might attract more guards and one of them might sound the alarm. Maybe I can distract them with some noise and send them running on a wild goose chase while I slip in. But that still leaves the guards inside engineering to deal with and there's a chance my cloak will fail. Whatever I do I better do it soon. I can't keep standing around here all day and maintain my invisibility act forever!"_

Feeling somewhat out of options David looked out of one the view ports and watched the battle between the Dreads and the Taraak ships.

_"The Taraakan's are holding the Dreads off for now but it's only a matter of time before they board the ship. When they do these guys will have a lot more to worry about then…."_

His eyes widened with sudden realization before his expression smoothed into a devious smile. _"If the Dreads had an easier time of getting into the Ikazuchi…then most of the guards, if not all of them, would be called to repel the pirates as soon as they were boarded!"_

He quickly pulled out the remote. _"Guess it's about time that I lend a helping hand."_

He pressed the button.

And all hell broke loose…

….

As the one sided battle continued with the _Ikazuchi_ and its remaining escorts along with the Vanguards barely holding the line against the Dreads, a dire situation was about to become even worse.

Suddenly across all decks of the _Ikazuchi_, most notably on the command deck, many of the lights, systems, and consoles began to flicker and malfunction as a virus entered and started to seize control of few systems.

"What's happening?!" roared the Prime Minister when he noticed the disturbance around him.

"I'm not sure sir! Reports are coming in saying that some of the systems across all decks seems to be malfunctioning." reported the comms officer.

"Those systems were only installed a few weeks ago! How is this possible?" demanded the Minister.

"I don-"

"Sir! Some of the _Ikazuchi's_ gun turrets are attacking our Vanguards!" another crewmember interrupted looking as pale as sheet.

"WHAT?!"

"Minister! Several of the hanger doors are also opening we can't shut them down!"

"Security cameras are down too!"

"What's causing this?!" screamed the Prime Minister wanting to know what was happening with his ship.

"It must be the women sir! They must have somehow downloaded a virus into our computer systems!"

The Minister slammed a fist on the arm of his chair. "Curse those vile women! I don't care what it takes, get rid of that virus and close those doors!"

"Were trying sir!"

….

"Leader! Some of the turrets of the enemy flagship are attacking the Vanguards and several hanger doors are starting to open!" reported a shocked Dread pilot.

The Dread leader paused for a moment to consider her options.

"Whatever's going on we need to take advantage of this. All Dreads move in but stay alert, this could be a trap!" she ordered.

"Roger!"

The Dreads swarmed in with one Dread flying to the rear section of the _Ikazuchi_ and launched its attack.

A section of the outer hull was blasted apart by the attack and with that the fighters dashed straight into the opening.

_"Hull breach in Sector Three! Electromagnetic walls activating!"_ a petty officer shouted through the emergency line as the anti-breach walls locked in to prevent the loss of needed air, which would escape to space.

One of the Dreads grazed the statue causing Bart, who was now hiding in it, to whimper in fear.

….

An alert klaxon sounded as a red light continuously flashed in the corridor.

_"Intruder Alert! All able personnel are to proceed to the Hangar Section of the Ikazuchi!"_

"What the hell's going on with this place?!" screamed Hibiki as he ran down a hallway while carrying the little robot under his arm. "I gotta get outta here!"

He stopped and leaned against a wall, looking for an escape route.

….

As soon as the order was broadcasted all the guards took off running from engineering to help repel the women.

_"And there they go!"_ thought David with a smile as he watched them pass him by. _"Nice knowing you suckers-I mean good luck fellas! Trust me, you're gonna need it!" _

Once David was certain that all the guards had left he dropped his cloak and faced the entrance to engineering.

_"Alright, time to go to work!"_

With that he ran inside the core room where the Paksis would be.

….

A switch was turned and the gravity to the cargo bay and hanger was restored.

"Cargo bay gravity restored! Prepare to engage the enemy directly!" shouted a sweating petty officer into the intercom phone, clutching a battle rifle tightly. He turned around just in time to see the canopies of the Dreads opening and Dread pilots disembarking from their craft, moving forward to secure the area. They were dressed in formless space suits and facemask/helmets with fierce monster designs, made solely to instill fear in their enemies, men.

….

**Paksis core room…**

David let out a long whistle at the sight in front of him.

He was currently standing on a catwalk that was one of many in a vast suspended maze of the core room and looked directly at the enormous Paksis Core that loomed over him.

_"I knew that the first Paksis Core would be big but this is ridiculous! There's no way that I'll be able to take that with me!"_

He was about move on when he felt a foreign presence tugging at the edges of his mind.

_"What was that?!"_ he thought in surprise as he directed his attention at the Paksis. _"It felt like Paksis was…calling out to me…"_

He once heard that a couple scientists who were studying Terra Novus's own Paksis Core claimed to have observed and even felt unusual activity from it that displayed patterns akin to behavior and theorized that the Paksis was in fact a sentient being, though there was never enough evidence to substantiate these claims.

David shook himself out his momentary trance. _"Now's not the time to get sidetracked!"_

He placed his hand on the beacon that was strapped alongside the grenades on his left hip.

_"I'll have to place the beacon somewhere discreet so it won't be found before H.Q. sends a retrieval team later."_

With that he used the armor's enhanced speed and strength to jump off the catwalk and landed on another before repeating the process in order to reach the very bottom of the room.

….

**Bridge…**

"Sir the virus has been neutralized we can now close the hanger doors!" reported a bridge hand.

"It's too late! The women are already inside!" cried another in distress.

The Prime Minister simply growled as he clenched his hands and teeth.

….

As the sound weapons fire was heard Bart suddenly tumbled out of his little hiding place, which was inside the hollow base of the statue of Grand Pa. He then looked in shock at the sight of the monsters he believed to be women.

"T-THOSE THINGS ARE WOMEN?!" he cried out in terror as he saw the enemies of men for the first time.

It was just then that he looked behind him and saw a blue Dread barreling through the hull breach and flying straight at him at breakneck speed while scrapping against the wall. Which were all easy signs of an amateur pilot.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Bart screamed as he scrambled back inside the statue. A second later the head of the statue was sliced clean off by the fighter. After it passed the cowardly cadet's head rose through the new opening, revealing a very alive Bart who paled at the near miss.

….

**At the same time…**

David soon arrived at the bottom of the deck and ran to the base of the Paksis Core. He went down one knee and carefully placed the beacon in a darkened corner of the core. A metallic clang was heard as the beacon attached itself to the metal frame and a small green light lit up on it, signaling that was ready to transmit when another Alliance ship was within a few light years from it.

David smiled in satisfaction. _"Now with taken care of, it's time to make my exit."_

He then ran to the nearest door that would take him to the catwalk that would lead him to the unused hanger right next to the Paksis.

And to his Mech, Starhawk.

….

The deadly firefight ensued as men from a control fired their semi-automatic rifles at the women, while the women returned the favor with lances of pink laser fire from their laser rings. The battle was at a standoff as the men were putting up a serious but we're missing their targets for the most part until one lucky bullet pierced the arm of a woman's suit.

Both women then looked behind them and saw one of their Dreads flying uncontrollably toward a bulkhead.

"Ahhhh! I can't stop!" screamed the female pilot seeing that she was about to ram into the wall and fired her Dread's weapons in blind panic.

….

**In the Paksis core room…**

Hibiki was running along a catwalk panting while carrying the robot and trying to find a way out.

"Th-there's no way I'm gonna let myself die in a place like this!" he continued to run until he saw the wall above him being burned through then exploded, blowing the catwalk and him away, losing his grip on the robot.

"AHHHH!"

….

**At the same time…**

David was about halfway across a when he spotted the heat expanding bulkhead that he knew was a sure sign of an imminent explosion.

_"Aw crap!"_

He immediately dashed a short distance toward the he came before quickly jumping to a nearby catwalk. He had just grabbed the adjacent catwalk's rail guard when the bulkhead exploded. The powerful force of the blast tore his grip from the rail and flung him against the wall…hard.

Just before he lost consciousness he saw a large object plow through the wall and thought he heard a scream.

Then everything went black.

….

**The bridge…**

A lever rose up from a panel at the bridge commander's panel.

"Minister! Please! You mustn't do this!" the commander begged.

"We can't afford to let the entire ship be captured by our enemy's hands. I must at least save the new section of the _Ikazuchi_." he said solemnly with his eyes closed as fake tears glistened around them while he grabbed hold of the large lever.

One of the bridge crew gulped.

"Before everything falls into the hands of females, I'll separate the old from the new!" he declared.

Without hesitation, he pushed the lever forward.

….

The locks holding together the _Ikazuchi_ detonated and began to detach while the crew on the old section watched in horror as they're abandoned by their leaders with the old section of the ship that was ejected into space.

Panic then ensued.

"What's going on?!"

"The ship's falling apart!"

"What are we supposed to do?!"

The only cadet that showed no surprise or fear of this event was Duero who simply narrowed his eyes.

….

Hibiki began coming to, lifting his hand to rub his eyes when his hand brushed something. He instinctively grabbed it and squeezed a few times and felt that it was something that was round, warm, and… rather firm yet pliable.

Hibiki then opened his eyes.

"Huh? What the heck is this?" he looked at the round thing curiously then he noticed that it was attached to something…or rather _someone_. His eyes moved further up and saw a weird mask looking at him.

With a panicked yell he pushed the form on top of him off and began to crawl away. "I-IT'S A MONSTER!"

"WAIT!" said a light female voice.

He stopped and looked back to see the thing remove its face ... or rather mask, revealing a beautiful young teen girl with red hair.

She looked at him with glee in her eyes. "Wow! It's a real live alien!"

He stared at the girl like she was insane. "Huh? What...? Alien...?"

She let out a small giggle then raised her hand and made weird gestures, which he figured was her way of greeting so he hesitantly repeated them.

She clasped her hands together with joy.

"I did it! It worked! I made first contact!" she said happily.

He chuckled a bit with that same look as before and grabbed the robot and ran off, jumping on to another catwalk.

"See ya!"

"Wait I want to take a picture!" she said quickly took off her suit and started chasing after him.

Neither of them noticed that the Paksis started ominously glowing.

….

**Vanguard hangar…**

A Taraakan cadet flinched as a laser whizzed by his head and burned a small hole on the wall missing him by a few inches which prompted him to raise his hands up.

"Don't move!" ordered a woman.

"Stay where you are!" commanded a second.

"We'll shoot if you try anything funny!" warned a third.

A few women armed with long round shaped rifles stood guard with their weapons trained on a cluster of prisoners they gathered. Two of the women shed their suits revealing one to be a teen with light blue colored boyish styled hair, wearing a pilot suit and a metal circlet around her left eye. The other, was a large chested blond haired woman that wore a form-fitting dress that left very little to the imagination.

"I know it's a disinfectant but I don't think I will ever get use to this smell." the blond women whined while fixing her long hair.

The light blue haired women ignored her as she looked around the hanger as if searching for someone.

"Where'd Dita go?" she asked.

"The last I saw of her she was blasting her way through the hull and thanks to that we got- Ow! That really hurt Paiway my skins very delicate I'll have you know!" said a dark green haired women in a slim purple suit, glaring at a younger girl with dark gray hair which were held in large odongos that framed her head, who appeared to be a nurse as she was bandaging the other girl's arm.

"Just try to tolerate it." replied the black haired girl named Paiway.

Duelo stopped to look at them and analyzed the small girl for a moment noting her lack of experience.

"Nurses should be a little more sensitive!" complained the green haired women as she gritted her teeth.

"I am sensitive!" she assured with a little whine.

One of the guards noticed that Duelo wasn't walking.

"Hey keep moving!"

Duelo gave the small nurse one last look before he grunted and moved along.

….

**In another part of the****_ Ikazuchi_****… **

Three suited Mejerian pirates walked into what appeared to be an older bridge of the _Ikazuchi_. As they approached the consoles in front of them they started to remove their suits. The first one to remove her suit was a silver haired tan woman wearing a purple jewel on the middle of her forehead and a larger green one on a chocker that was wrapped around a neck tight collar. She also wore over the ankle boots, loose blue pants, and a blue tank-top that ended in an inverted v at the bottom that gave a view of her belly.

"I don't believe it, nothings been touched here!" said the second one now removing her suit, revealing a light brunette with a green bow on her head and wearing a normal dress.

"Then it appears what we found isn't the main bridge." observed the silver haired woman who was pulling out a communicator just as the third pirate removed her suit showing a younger girl with dark brown hair tied into large pigtails, wearing a mechanics suit.

"Captain this is Buzam, the men escaped by splitting the ship in two and we gained access to some sort of sub-bridge." reported the silver haired woman, now known as Buzam, as she worked on a console.

As they accessed the logs they found a language that they can't comprehend.

"Oh my! What should we do, I can't read a word of this..." said the woman with the bow on her head in dismay as she looked at the Taraak men's language that scrolled down on the screens.

The girl with glasses smiled. "Just leave it to me! I Knew something like this would happen so I created this interpreter." she said as she brought out a strange device with white eye pieces.

She then turned to Buzam. "I'll set one up for you too commander!"

But then she frowned when she saw Buzam already decoding the data.

"Meia give me a status report." she said over the communicator while typing on the console.

_"The men have all been secured."_ Meia replied.

"Dump them." ordered Buzam.

_"Roger."_

"You mean you can read this stuff?" gasped the girl with glasses in amazement.

"That's the elite for you." commented the girl with the bow as she shrugged her shoulders.

"No fair! And after I made this device too!" pouted the mechanic as she sighed in disappointment.

….

**Paksis Core…**

Hibiki was still running full throttle from the red headed girl, jumping down beams and catwalks as he did so.

"Sorry! But I don't feel like having my guts eaten by women today!" he panted as continued to run from the girl.

Unfortunately for him, this girl didn't seem to be the type who gives up easily.

"Mr. Alien! Let's sit down and have a little chat!" she shouted excitedly as she continued to chase after him.

Not slowing down he looked back at her from the corner of his eye with him coming to one conclusion.

"Women are scary!"

….

David slowly began regaining consciousness as he came around. His vision was blurry, but despite that, he could see that he was near a catwalk and that he was still very much in one piece. He could tell as he slowly got up from against the wall that he had some sore muscles and probably more than a few bruises after his little rendezvous with the wall. Though, without his armor or its shields, which was recharging, it could have been much worse.

"Did someone get the number of that license plate?" he asked with a groan as he finally stood up. He then looked around and noticed that he was near the bottom of the room and further from the Starhawk than he was before.

_"I'll have to back track to that last catwalk."_

Then he looked up and saw that the catwalk was no longer there.

_"Damn! I'm gonna have to find another way to my Mech."_ He looked around then spotted a path.

_"Looks like I can use some of the catwalks and walkways to cut my way across the room then go the rest of the way across the bottom deck."_

It was the long way to the Starhawk but it was the only one he could see.

_"Well I'd better get a move on. This mission isn't going to complete itself."_ he thought wryly with a sigh.

He began to slowly build up into a run, ignoring the slight pain from his muscles as he headed for his Mech and hopefully off this ship.

….

**New section of the ****_Ikazuchi_****…**

Back on the other half of the Taraakan Flagship, one bridge officer was monitoring the pirate's main ship as it flew towards the older half of the _Ikazuchi_ they ejected on the radar.

"The Mejere ship is heading for the old section." he reported.

"Data is being transferred." another informed.

"Those females move fast don't they?" remarked the prime minister as he sat on the command chair.

"Prepare to fire a torpedo, the Muramasa!" he ordered .

The commander looked at him with shock. "Minister are you actually going to destroy the old section?!"

The minister closed his eyes with his slightly tilted down before he looked back up, rage in his eyes as one of them twitched.

"I'd rather destroy it with my own hands then let it fall into the hands of women!"

….

**Core room…**

Hibiki was running with robot in hand until his satchel was caught on some loose nails from a wall.

"You don't know when to give up!" he said through gritted teeth. After a brief struggle he tore the strap of his satchel freeing himself he continued to run for his life without even bothering to pick up the satchel that fell on the ground.

Still following closely behind him the red head continued pursuing the "alien" with a disk shaped camera in hand. She brought the camera to her face and snapped a couple shots at Hibiki's retreating back as she ran.

"Hey, Mr. Alien! Why are running away? We're really a peaceful race! Honestly!"

"Not only are women are the scariest things I've ever seen, but they don't make any sense either!" he said to himself as he ran.

….

**Hanger…**

Duelo opened a locker and pulled out a coat with a red cross on it, slipping his arms into the sleeves and putting it on.

One of the women noticed this and pointed her rifle at him. "Don't get out of line, get into the capsule now."

He simply adjusted the coat to his comfort. "There's time enough for that later."

She blinked in surprise before she raised her rifle in a threatening manner.

"You better start cooperating with us, get into the capsule now!" she ordered, doing a poor job of trying to sound intimidating.

"I'm no threat to you." he replied calmly.

He then turned around and simply smirked. "I happen to be a doctor."

This made the guard lower her weapon slightly and the other pirates turn to stare at the young Talark medical graduate in surprise.

….

The escape pods launched without Duelo and headed toward the Taraak controlled half of the _Ikazuchi_.

A crewmember monitoring the radar noticed this.

"Escape pods have been launched from the old section of the ship!"

"Is this their way of showing us pity?" asked the Minister bitterly to no in particular with his head on his fist.

"Perhaps there is a peaceful way to resolve this battle." suggested the commander.

Though, it seemed that the suggestion had fallen on deaf ears as the Minister ignored him and shifted his gaze out the corner of his eye.

"Isn't the Muramasa ready yet?" he asked impatiently.

"Report!" barked the commander.

"Determining the coordinates for the target." replied the tactical officer.

The targeting scanners were slowly acquiring a lock on the Muramasa missile's target.

….

**Hangar…**

"I was sorta looking forward to this because they said this was gonna be big, but this is all junk!" said the blond in a droll tone while leaning on a collapsed Vandaurd with a very familiar mark on it.

"Jura." called the light blue haired teen and the blond known as Jura looked to her.

"I'm going to go look for Dita, let's go." ordered the light blue haired girl as she knelt by the breach caused by the blue Dread earlier.

"Oh brother, this is why I didn't want to bring along a trainee." Jura sighed.

The light bluenette teen looked up at her.

"Listen Jura, we're short-handed as it is if you didn't want to be here you should've spoken up earlier." she scolded.

"Okay you don't have to yell! You want me to go right?" Jura pouted.

….

A hatch opened up as the new section of the _Ikazuchi_ prepared to fire the missile.

….

The brunette women in the dress gasped as she caught onto the lock on signal.

"Oh my ... looks like they're aiming a missile at us." she said with worry.

"What?! Parfet is it possible to move the ship?" the silver haired woman asked the engineer with glasses.

"I'm afraid not, the engines dead." Parfet replied with a shrug.

The silver haired woman growled and turned on her communicator.

"What do we do?" she asked her captain.

….

"I see it, losing the ship will be a shame but..." she looked up.

"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

The red pirate ship then moved in toward the old section of the _Ikazuchi_.

….

"Copy that! Did you hear Meia?" she asked over the communicator.

….

**Core room… **

"I've lost Dita, I'll rendezvous with you as soon as I find her so go on ahead." said the light bluenette teen who was now known as Meia.

She and Jura were standing on twisted walkway near were the blue Dread was sticking out from the wall. Suddenly they both heard a scream from below them and looked to see what was going on.

Hibiki as before was running away from the red head, desperately trying to lose her.

"Stop following me!" he yelled at her as he ran.

"Mr. Alien, wait!"

"Dita…!" Meia called, identifying the red head, but it fell on deaf ears.

"You see that Meia. She's chasing a man." Jura noted dryly as she looked and gave Meia a sidelong glance.

….

**Hanger…**

Duelo had just finished bandaging the wound on the arm of the dark green haired female's arm.

"That should do it." he said. Then he looked at the green haired teen with an analyzing eye.

The teen in question found it weird and leaned away.

"Wha-What, is it? Is there something interesting about me?" she asked in annoyance.

"Yes, quite interesting."

"Just don't expect any thanks!"

"I don't. I suppose I'll go now."

At the same time Paiway was watching Duelo as the whole played out before.

"He touched a total of five girls." she whispered to herself while writing in her notebook.

Then the ship shuddered and the sound of explosions was heard catching them all by surprise.

….

The Mejerian pirate ship opened fired on the men's half of the _Ikazuchi_ as the pirates moved toward the older section to retrieve their comrades.

….

The bridge shuddered as weapons fire impacted the ship.

"Starboard control has been lost!"

"The pirates are approaching the old section of the ship!"

"The missiles?" asked the Minister.

"Sir they're still fueling!" the weapons officer replied.

"It has more than enough! Target the old section and fire!" he shouted.

….

As the missiles streamed towards the old section of the ship, the pirates began to extract they're crews from the ship.

"Crew extraction commenced." reported a woman who was watching over a console that showed the extraction tube.

"Three hundred seconds till missiles impact." said another watching over the missiles course.

"B.C.?!" called the old captain to her second in command.

….

"I'm the only one left from my team, three members under Meia have yet to return." the silvered hair reported, finally known as B.C.

_"They'll have to return in their Dreads, return to the ship now!"_ the captain ordered.

"Roger!"

….

**Paksis Core room… **

David felt the deck intensely vibrate under him as the ship shuddered and knew exactly what was happening.

"Man, those Mejerian chicks sure aren't messing around! I'd better get to my Mech before they show up!" he said to himself.

Just as he was about continue running an alarm went off on his H.U.D. and started to show sensor data from the Starhawk. It indicated that two small signatures were coming from a larger source and was heading to his location.

_"They must've separated the ship while I was out."_ he noted, then his widened when he identified the two moving signatures.

_"Wait, are those…? That bastard didn't just…of course he did! That jackass just launched the Muramasa!" _

He let out an angry grunt. _"For all their talk of strength, honor, and bravery the top brass of Taraak are nothing but cowards and hypocrites!"_

Under the guise of an elite he was of course aware of the Muramasa. It was a dual missile system that launched two missiles at the same time and was armed with crude thermal-nuclear warheads. Which was more than enough to obliterate this old tub. Fortunately the Paksis should be large enough and powerful enough to survive the explosion. Unfortunately the missiles had only two hundred and fifty seconds to go before they hit.

Then he realized that the pirates weren't trying to board, their trying to escape before the missile hit.

_"I should follow their lead and get the hell outta here! Double time!"_

He went to a full run coming to the edge of the catwalk where he needed to jump off and make a straight dash for his Mech.

Right after he jumped off and landed on the deck, he staggered slightly forward when something hit him from behind. As he recovered he heard a noise coming from the same direction as whatever hit him. He quickly spun on his heels, fluidly bringing his plasma rifle to bear on what was behind him.

What or rather who he saw left him surprised.

….

**Seconds before David jumped…**

A fleeing Hibiki with robot in hand was still looking for a way out and away from the crazy woman behind him when noticed a pile of debris near an exit.

_"Yes! I can climb up that stuff, get away from that crazy innard-sucking woman, and find my partner!"_

He made his way toward the debris and to apparent freedom. But before he could even reach it, a large object suddenly landed in front of him with a heavy thud.

Hibiki tried to stop himself but it was too late as he ran right at whatever was in front him, dropping the robot. He let out a small cry of pain as the thing he ran straight into was very hard and it gave him a nasty jolt and landed on his backside.

"Ow! Huh?" he looked up then stared in wide eyed terror and gulped as he found himself looking at the barrel end of a rifle. He slowly looked upwards and gaped in shock and fear as he now found himself looking at a somewhat taller faceless gunmetal grey armored figure pointing an odd but menacing looking rifle at him.

He saw his reflection on the narrow reflective black visor of the figure's helmet felt a massive shiver run down his spine. It looked male but he didn't know what or who this figure in front of him was but he wasn't going to try anything that would antagonize it and a give it a reason to shoot him. Hibiki was looking at an armored David who was armed with a Plasma Assault Rifle, a Plasma Pistol, a pack of small disk-shaped grenades, and two Nova Knives… a very intimidating sight for a sixteen year old boy like him to face in one day.

….

David stared at the Taraakan boy sitting in front of him and realized that he saw him earlier at the Vanguard presentation.

_"It's that same kid from before! He must've escaped his cell during all the commotion. But what is doing here? Is he lost?"_ he pondered. Then he lowered his rifle and decided to get a better look of him.

As he noted earlier he appeared to be sixteen and had feral dark blue hair that was slightly past the shoulders and tied into a ponytail. He also had hazel eyes and the local tan skin and seemed to be at least four feet eight inches tall. He wore a simple orange jacket with brown lines that was worn over a black long-sleeved shirt and wore simple brown baggy pants and black shoes.

He then noticed a white egg-shaped robot lying next to the boy that seemed to be shorted out.

_"That robot looks kinda familiar… I know I've seen that type before."_ he thought trying to remember where he had seen one like it.

He was quickly brought out of his musing when he heard rapid footsteps approaching.

The boy apparently heard it too, as he looked back in fear and then he quickly scooped up the robot and tried to run. But when he tried to leave he was jerked to a halt and he gulped once more as found himself caught in the armored figure's firm and powerful grip on the back of his shirt.

"And just where do you think you're going in such a rush?" asked David curiously, though his voice was slightly deeper than it actually was due to his helmet's built-in voice modulator.

"I'm running away from that monster! Let me go!" he begged hysterically as he tried to break David's grip on him.

David just looked at him, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"What monster are you talking about?"

Before the boy could reply David's question was answered when he heard a feminine voice.

"WOW! ANOTHER ALIEN!"

David turned and spotted a young redhead teenage girl with a camera. He blinked a bit as the girl took a picture of him.

_"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! She's the reason that this kid is getting so worked up?! She's just a nice young girl!"_ he thought incredulously.

Then he started slightly as he registered what she said. _"Wait! Another what…?!"_

But before he could ask, two other women arrived on the scene.

"AAHHH, MORE WOMEN!" the Taraakan youth screamed as he frantically struggled to loosen David's grip so he could get away.

David rolled his eyes at the boy's antics.

Meia gasped and raised her laser ring as she spotted the armored and armed figure that was in front of Dita.

David noticed this and silently snorted.

_"A laser ring? Really?! That thing won't even penetrate the shields much less my armor!"_ he thought as he looked at the jeweled ring with contempt. He knew it would take a lot more than a little laser to damage his armor.

Though clearly the light blue haired young woman didn't know that as she continued to point her weapon at him.

Meia didn't know what was going on but her training instincts kicked in and she pressed the firing stud and out from the jewelry came powerful laser beam. Though not in the caliber of the heavier laser rifles they had, the bolt should be enough to slow the armored being down long enough for Dita to escape.

"DITA! RUN!"

David saw the laser and quickly released the boy, who fell face first on the metal floor with an "oomph", gripping his plasma rifle with both hands and just stood where he was. The laser beam slammed into his Aegis Mark III's shields as he took the attack and was immediately covered in rippling blue energy. David saw that the bolt didn't do that much damage…it didn't even take an inch from his shield gauge.

Meia was stunned of how the armored being just stood there and took her shot like it was nothing. But she was even more stunned of how the laser bolt she fired was deflected away. It seemed that the armored being was also armed with some sort of personal defense shield that was highly resistant to lasers. She heard Jura gasp also as the blonde also saw the armored being before them and at what happened when Meia tried to shoot it.

But the women, except Dita who bounced with excitement, were especially shocked at what came next.

David briefly looked down at his chest before looking back up at the women who tried to shoot him.

"Well hello to you too!" he said dryly, as if Meia's attempt to shoot him was merely rude behavior. "Was that really necessary?"

The women, aside from Dita who had a bright gleam in her eyes while she ohhhed and awwwed at him, were at a loss for words even though they recognized the voice as being a man's.

David took this chance to look at the three women before him.

The red head's hair, who was obviously Dita, was of a deep red shade that looked well-kept and silky with two long tails of her hair framing her face, which was well featured, and she had deep blue eyes. On the top of her head was a strange golden headpiece that had the resemblance of a tiara. She appeared to be as old as the Taraakan boy and stood at the height of five foot one inches with a light creamy skin tone and a healthy figure. She also wore a black crop top, a white jacket, both of which left her belly exposed, and a white skirt that had black and pink patterns around the shoulders, sleeves, and waist along with heeled shoes of similar design.

Next he turned his attention to the second woman who was a tall blond woman. She seemed to be at the age of twenty, a year older than David, and she was two inches taller than him at the height of five foot nine inches. She had a body that would have turned the heads of men, other than from Taraak, at least a full one-hundred and eighty degrees. She had all the curves and swells in the right places, and her ample bosom enhanced her appealing figure that would make most men drool. Her face was pretty similar in complexion, which was light cream white, she had deep emerald green eyes and her face was perfect in most aspects of the beauty of a human female. Her hair was long, reaching her thighs and was like golden wavy silk. She wore a very form-showing dress, which had a plunging neckline and had slits that showed her gorgeous legs from lower hip to ankle, and she wore ankle length boots.

Finally he looked at the light blue haired woman who tried to shoot him. She seemed to be the same age as him, placing her age at nineteen. She was tall as well, though not as tall as her blonde companion at the height of five foot six inches and only an inch shorter than David. Her body was completely athletic showing well-defined curves and abs that would have attracted the eyes of men who knew how to appreciate the female figure and had light cream skin, which seemed to be the common theme of Mejerian though he couldn't say if that was really the case. Her hair was cut to a short boyish style, which seemed to suit her well. On the left side of her face that partially encircled her left eye was a strange metal circlet that did nothing to either dull her appearance or break away the glitter of her blue-green eyes which David was beginning to find very appealing. She also wore what seemed to be a form-fitting pilot suit with thick shoulder pads that was gray, black, and white that also showed her curves even more.

As David finished his observation of the women an alarm sounded from his H.U.D. and his eyes widened as it showed him that he had one hundred seventy seconds left to escape before the missiles impacted.

_"I'd better get going before I end up getting vaporized right along with this floating scrap heap!" _

He looked back at the Mejerian women.

"Sorry, but as much as I would like to stay and chat with you lovely ladies, I'm afraid that I'm on a bit of tight schedule so I'll be going now." he said in a slightly flirty tone before turning to face a nearby wall.

Dita jumped up and down excitedly waiting to see what the other "alien" did next.

Jura blinked.

_"Did he just complement us?"_

Meia just narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the armored male's back wondering what he was up to.

Hibiki on his hands and knees looked at him as if he were insane.

David then pulled out a grenade, armed it, and then tossed it at the wall.

The other occupants of the room watched as the disk shaped device flew toward the wall. When it finally hit the wall it clung to it briefly…

Then exploded with an earth shattering force.

When the smoke cleared, Hibiki and the woman saw to their shock, save Dita who looked on in amazement, the grenade had cause a large tear in the metal wall.

David then charged right at the wall throwing his right fist forward and punched through the tear and threw a second punch with the left then started to pull.

To the further shock of Hibiki and the women, with the further amazement of Dita as she cheered for the "alien", David pulled, as the metal plating screeched and groaned, the edges of the tear outward as he made a hole big enough for him to walk through.

Not that he had any intention of just walking.

He turned and gave the boy and women one last look.

"Chow." he said smoothly with a wave of his hand, before turning back around and ran through the gap.

Hibiki was the first to recover from his shock as he quickly shook his head.

"I'm getting out of here!" he said as he grabbed the robot then ran up to the debris pile and began to climb it.

Dita was next as she cried. "Mr. Aliens, wait! Please!"

Deciding that Hibiki was the easiest one to chase she went after him as he climbed further up the pile.

Before she could follow however, Meia saw what she was doing and quickly went after her.

"Dita!"

She then tackled Dita on top of some of the junk and looked angrily at her.

"Meia." Dita said with a nervous look on her face as turned her head to look at her commander.

"What are you doing?! You know better than to separate from the rest of the team!" reprimanded Meia.

"I'm sorry Meia." apologized Dita with a somewhat hurt expression.

….

The Muramasa continued to their target undaunted even the Mejere ship tried in vain to stop them.

"One hundred and fifty-seconds to impact." reported a woman.

The pirate vessel then detached as the evacuation was completed.

….

**Pirate ship…**

"Meia, where are you?" asked B.C. through a styled earphone on the pirate ship.

**….**

"All members are accounted for. We're leaving now on the Dreads." Meia reported to her communicator as she and her subordinates ran towards their respective fighters.

Just then Hibiki emerged from the breach that Dita's Dread caused.

"Where's that Vanguard?" breathed Hibiki as looked around.

Then he saw the Vanguard with his mark on it. "We did it partner!"

He made his over to the Vanguard, climbing on top of it and jumping into the cockpit seat back first with the robot in his lap. He looked around briefly before finding the switch to closing the cockpit doors.

When the cockpit doors closed Hibiki let out a grin of triumph.

"Alright partner let's get out of this place!" he said excitedly before pausing and looking at the controls. Then his eyes widen as he realized that he had no idea how to activate the Vanguard.

"Uh, how's this thing supposed to move?" Hibiki asked in a confused tone as the little bots screen lit up.

….

David arrived at the hangar where he had his Mech stored and made his way over to a very large container. He then typed in the passcode for opening the container. The container then opened to reveal his Mech, the Starhawk, floating just above the floor of the container in all its glory.

He jumped on his Mech and climbed into the cockpit, pressing a series of buttons on the holographic console as he started up the Starhawk's systems.

He smiled in anticipation at the chance of flying Starhawk again.

….

The missiles we're closing in rapidly as the Pirate's bridge crew kept track of it.

"Twenty-five seconds till impact. We can't avoid a direct hit." informed a teen.

"Hit or miss, either way it's our destiny." the aged woman said as the captain looked at the screen.

….

Two Dreads lifted off and spun elegantly to face the hangar's exit when Meia realized that Dita hadn't shown up.

"Dita!"

….

Dita's Dread was still embedded in the wall and her thrusters were not strong enough to free her.

"My Dread is stuck and I can't get out!" she shouted in a desperate tone. Her observation was spot on. With the walls blasted areas and edges, the Dread as effectively trapped as part of its front was wedged tightly against the sides of the bulkhead.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!"

As she kept trying to free her Dread she then saw an unfamiliar fighter hovering near her.

On the other side of the wall David spotted the danger as he had just gotten Starhawk online. He had two choices, fly and escape leaving the young redhead to die or rescue her despite the time limit…

David made a quick systems check and decided to rescue the girl. Activating Starhawk's weapons, he carefully aimed the twin Proton CWIS's, then fired controlled bursts of fire at the bulkheads holding the Dread with some precise shots around it.

In her cockpit, Dita gasped at the power of the alien's fighter. She smiled gratefully as she gazed at the second alien who freed her from her predicament.

"Wow! You're really cool! Thank You Mr. Other Alien!" she called out to him.

Behind his helmet David gave a small smirk and shrugged his shoulders. He then turned about and powered up Starhawk for launch.

….

With the missiles still on their way the pirate ship began withdrawing to a safer distance.

"Thirteen seconds." warned a girl.

….

Hibiki continued to struggle as he tried to move his Vanguard.

"Come on! Move dammit!" he demanded as he yanked a lever.

….

On the command deck of the newer section of the _Ikazuchi_ the bridge crew, including the Prime Minister and the supreme commander, were saluting to the memory of the older section with the commander looking at the Minister with extreme disapproval.

….

**Hangar…**

"Dita!" called Meia, determined not to lose her.

"We can't wait any longer!" said Jura, knowing what Meia was thinking.

"Meia! Jura! I'm here!" cried Dita as her Dread the other two.

Meia and Jura breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Dita's dread move back out of the hole it was stuck in. Since they were on the other side, they didn't see how her ship had gotten loose from its bonds.

"Thank goodness!" breathed Jura.

"We're leaving now!" said Meia.

"Roger!" both Jura and Dita replied.

They had just started to make their escape when they realized that had run out of time.

….

"Move it!" yelled Hibiki as kept trying to pilot the Vanguard.

….

"Time to go!"

Just as David was about to launch out of the hangar when a light flashed as the whole room was bathed in a blue light.

_"Is this it?"_ David wondered before he blacked out.

….

The blue light encompassed the old section of the _Ikazuchi_ and Mejere pirate's ship just as the missiles made impact. A massive explosion occurred and when it faded there was nothing left.

….

"Were no longer reading any mass sir!" reported an officer.

The Prime Minister sighed in relief.

"I hope you women enjoyed the taste of defeat." he declared coldly.

….

A swirl of blue light lingered momentarily, sucking up everything near it into its vortex. Then it vanished, leaving nothing but the empty void of space in its place.

….

David found himself falling into a deep sea of greenish-blue light. His body felt like it was on fire as massive waves of energy flooded him. The sensations were indescribable, as he had never felt it before. But somehow it felt warm and comforting making him feel more relaxed, there was no pain, but a sense of calm...of peace.

As the young man fell, he became aware that there were four others with him, the same women and boy that he had met earlier at the Core room. And as the light engulfed him, he saw that each of the women had glowing shards of light, like gems, on them and they embedded themselves inside the middle of each woman's forehead like seeds. He then saw an image that resembled a Mech like his Starhawk but larger and more impressive looking. As that last image faded he thought he heard one certain female's voice calling out.

"MR. ALIENS!"

Then he started hearing the others screaming, including himself, as they rapidly fell through the light into darkness.

….

**Author's Notes: Soooo...that happened. David tries to complete his mission and that gets thrown out the window. But hey, at least he's alive and off Taraak though the question is what happens next. Find out on chapter three, til then happy reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread in any way. This story will also reference StarCraft, Freelancer, Lost Planet, Transformers, and EVE Online none of which I own either but I wish I did. I only own the OCs.**

**Author's Notes: Well you certainly didn't have long to wait for this one did you? I know most author's would write a lot of things for the author's notes even if they've repeatable updated a story but I'm not going to do that this time. So go on enjoy this chapter!**

**"**Talking**"**

**_"_**_Thoughts__**"**_

_'Telepathy' _

…

**Chapter 3**

**And…I'm A Long Way from Home**

…

_David was dreaming…_

_Or least David thought he was dreaming; yet he felt as though he was very conscious. He suddenly found himself surrounded by countless images. The majority of them showing the many memories of his life on Terra Novus, the missions and journeys he had done ever since entering Novusian Alliance Millitary and the Centurions. The people, races, beings, and worlds he had seen, met and had been to, along with the battles against many enemies by himself and with his comrades and allies. Even the more recent memories of being given the Starhawk and his time on Taraak flashed by. However, other images of things he had never seen before swirled in front of him, but they were hazy and blanketed in shadow and there were other images but they too were shrouded in blackness. He tried to make sense of it all but was to stopped as a consuming but unthreatening blinding light claimed him._

_He was then surrounded by a white and black scene and was welcomed by a most peculiar sight. Floating at various positions in front of him were gray figures of the Taraakan boy, the robot, the three women from before, and rear admiral Gardner staring blankly at him. Despite what he was seeing, David knew instantly that the people in front of him weren't the people he knew. Before he could ask what was going on however, one of the images spoke._

_'You are the one…' stated the image of Gardner._

_David blinked in confusion. 'The one….?'_

_'You are the one who will guide them…' droned the image of the robot undaunted as if not hearing him._

_'You are the one who will show them the path…' said the image of the blond woman._

_'You are the one who will help them see what they are…' said the image of the red head Dita._

_'You are the one who will give them the proof of who they are…'spoke the image of the light bluenette woman._

_'You are the one who will help them find the proof of their existence. Of his existence…' said the image of the Taraakan boy._

_'I don't understand. Who are you? Guide who? What path? Help who with what? Proof of their existence? What is it you're trying to ask me to do?' David demanded in confusion._

_'It is time…' said the image of Gardner oblivious of David's questions._

_'The path is set…' droned the robot._

_'Now you must show them what it means to be…' said the image of the light blue haired teen._

_'Wait a minute! What do you want?! What is it that I'm supposed to do?!' David yelled._

_But it was too late, the figures vanished and David's view went dark._

…

**In an unknown area of space far from either Talark or Megele…**

The pirate ship and the old section of the _Ikazuchi_ violently reappeared in the void of new space with the power of an exploding star. Both vessels were severely damaged by the torpedoes' explosions, but then the older one began to unleash tendrils of light from the main Paksis reactor core unit. On the bridge of the pirate ship, the female crewmembers groaned as they started to rouse themselves from their little experience.

"Uuuuuuhhhhhhh….This doesn't feel like the afterlife. Where are we?!" demanded the elderly captain. Magno Vivian, age one hundred and eight, captain and founder of the pirates looked about.

"Checking now." informed a bridge crewmember.

Suddenly they were shaken with strong force as if their ship was taken by something massive.

"What's going on now?!" yelled the captain.

The old captain looked up at the main view-screen and gasped in shock as she saw the old section of the _Ikazuchi _shoot out massive glowing crystalline tendrils as if it were alive. Its deployed tendrils of crystal began gathering the surrounding debris and began to incorporate them into its structure, including their own pirate cruiser!

"What the heck is going on? Is the crystal trying to consume the entire ship or something?!"

…

**A few minutes later during the transformation…**

Inside the reactor room of the_ Ikazuchi_ which was now flooded with crystals, the three Dread pilots who had been at ground zero of the explosion came to consciousness, and were quite surprised to find themselves awake and alive and lying on the floor.

"Jura, are you alright?" Meia asked as she got up on her hands.

"I'm… okay." Jura answered as she sat up and also looked around the room and slowly got up.

Meia placed her hand to her face and rubbed it slightly. It was then that a thought struck her mind.

"Dita!"

"Hi! I'm over here!"

Both Meia and Jura looked in the direction of that voice and gave sighs of relief as they spotted the red-haired trainee pilot lying on her belly some distance away from them and waving her hand.

"Something… went beep… and then…. VROOOMMM! And I don't what happened then! Alien powers are SO amazing!" she mumbled excitably.

Meia just stood up and surveyed the scene around her.

Lying nearby and still unconscious…were David and Hibiki.

…

The two vessels were then linked together by a massive and very thick stem of the glowing green crystals as the _Ikazuchi's_ belly fused with that of the top of the pirate cruiser. On the pirate ship, its sections began undergoing its own startling metamorphosis, as the Paksis began infusing all cable, circuits, and mechanisms. The women worked desperately to stop the transformation, but their efforts were in vain as their ship was completely engulfed.

…

The elderly captain looked briefly at was happening for a moment before turning her attention to the view screen.

"Gascogne! Do you think you could detach us?" asked Magno.

A screen winked on revealing a tan muscled woman with short green hair and brown eyes.

"I can't do it with lasers. And if we don't hurry up, this place will get swallowed up too!" Gascogne reported calmly with her hands to her hips.

A second screen then winked on next to the first revealing it to be B.C.

"The corrosion is starting to spread through the whole ship." she reported while on a comm. device.

A third screen then winked on showing it to be the chief engineer Parfet.

"The engine's down too so we can't move!" she reported with alarm.

The captain closed her eyes in thought.

"So we're going to have to get rid of it at the source…" she mumbled to herself. Then she opened her eyes. "I'm going up! B.C., Parfet come with me!" she ordered.

"Roger!"

…

**Moments later on the old section of the ****_Ikazuchi_****…**

The captain of the pirates, her first officer, and their chief engineer along with a well-armed group of their security team stood for a moment at the shuttle's door.

Magno looked briefly around the crystalized reactor room. "This is amazing."

Then she and the others stepped off the shuttle and onto the reactor room.

Meia and Dita greeted them as soon as they had arrived from their shuttle, as the Dread squadron leader greeted the ancient female.

"Sorry about this Captain, you had to come all the way up here." she apologized with much sincerity.

Magno waved her apology off gently as she smiled at her young but talented Dread Squadron leader. "There's no reason for you to apologize. I simply wanted to see this for myself."

She began walking with the occasional thunk of her wooden cane and looked at the room, which was flood with the Paksis' handiwork, crystals were everywhere. She then noticed two figures lying on the floor. She looked at the armored David with his helmet off which was sitting next to him, as Meia had already removed it earlier, as, unknown to her, slowly began to regain consciousness. She then noticed Hibiki on the floor next to him.

"Those are the men we encountered while looking for Dita Captain. Dita was chasing that man with the dark blue hair. The one with the armor we encountered later." she reported crisply though was eying David with some hostility as she was still a little sore about what happened when she tried to shoot him earlier.

"So they're the ones you reported in earlier, eh?" Magno asked as she directed her gaze to Hibiki, she then remarked.

"It's been a while since I've last seen men. Were their faces always that funny looking?"

Magno looked a bit shocked as she saw the armored young man with black hair suddenly opened his eyes and flipped from his back and landed on his feet with acrobatic grace. She looked on as one of the youngsters she had directed her remark at stared at her with dark brown eyes that were set in deep confusion.

David looked at the people in front of him, and silent chided himself for forcing himself awake before he could clear his head, as the images were still blurry. He had enough strength to give a retort.

"You're no vision of beauty yourself, you old vulture."

…

**Later…In a prison cell…**

_"Alright, so maybe that wasn't exactly the BEST way get to know someone. Note to self, next time I'll wait until I'm fully awake before I say anything."_ David thought silently as he reminded himself to be a little more tactful to people he barely met.

After that first meeting with the pirates he willing surrendered himself to them in order to gather more information and then he was taken to one of the holding cells but not before they disarmed him of his weapons and stripped off his armor, leaving him wearing his bodysuit for which he was immensely grateful for.

That was when he looked up slightly and was aware that he wasn't alone. Nearby at a corner was a certain doctor who had not fled with his fellow crewmates in the escape pods prior to the explosion.

"I see you have arrived with the third class citizen. You're Ensign David Angelus, correct? Duelo McFile, a pleasure to meet you." Duelo greeted him politely as he indicated the Taraakan boy who was unconscious underneath a bed. David also noticed the little robot next to him.

David decided to play along for now until he had his bearings.

He nodded.

"Likewise, and yes my name's David." asked David with equal politeness. He remembered seeing Duelo at the ceremony before all the ruckus started.

Duelo then raised an eyebrow as he noticed the unique bodysuit and a lack of a certain something.

"That's a curious bodysuit you're wearing. I have never seen anything like it before. Where did you get it? And where's your class I.D. tag?" he asked. He wasn't suspicious, he was genuinely curious.

David mentally cursed as he realized that he had nearly forgot that he had tossed it away, figuring he didn't need it anymore. He quickly thought up an excuse for his bodysuit and missing I.D. tag.

"You're rather observant… doctor." David smiled as he noticed the medical insignia on Duelo's trench coat. "As for the bodysuit it's part of an experimental armor system that I was stripped of during my capture. And I lost my I.D. tag during all the confusion of the pirate's attack." David lied as he gave an explanation for both.

Duelo nodded as it made sense to him. "I see."

It was at that moment they noticed that Hibiki had woken up. The Taraakan boy jumped up with a start bumping the top of his head against the bottom of the bed.

"OW!" he yelped clutching his head in his hands.

David slightly winced. _"That had to hurt."_

The boy then looked around apparently not noticing David and Duelo.

"Oh, man! Well it looks like I'm stuck behind bars again huh?" he said depressingly with a downcast expression.

It was that moment Duelo decided to speak.

"You're awake."

The boy started with his narrowing. "Who's there?!"

Hibiki turned and saw Duelo and David sitting not far from him.

"Hello there, the name's David Angelus." said David deciding to make the first introduction. Hibiki just stared wide eyed at him, apparently recognizing the armor David wore.

"My name is Duelo McFile. And do you have a name as well Mr. third class citizen?" Duelo asked casually.

The boy then turned sharply at Duelo.

"Don't make fun of me! My name is Hibiki Tokai and I'm not just another third class citizen!" snapped Hibiki with a crossed look.

Though he was trying to act tough, David could see right through Hibiki's façade and could tell that was nervous, perhaps even a little intimidated. Duero apparently knew it too as continued unperturbed.

"You're the one who made the commotion during the ceremony right? How did you manage to sneak in anyway?" asked Duelo with a slight smile of amusement at Hibiki.

_"I'm really not that surprised. The guards were so sloppy and lax that an old Earth rhino could have charged straight in with no problems and no one would have even noticed it getting inside the ship."_ David thought with contempt.

"And what's with that robot you have there?" asked David pointing the egg-shaped robot lying on the floor next to him.

Hibiki just turned his head with a slight huff.

"There sure are lots of questions today. Anyway-" Hibiki started to say as he snapped his head back to them but was interrupted when the robot started buzzing.

It was then that David noticed that the small robot Hibiki had brought with him screen was showing nothing but static. Then it began to quiver and shake, then it suddenly sprouted metal arms with three fingers each and two legs with long feet. Its screen came to life, and displayed a pair of large eyes. The thing then stood up and looked around while scratching it's head in confusion.

"Hmmm? Where am I? Who am I?"

"You've changed a bit haven't you?" Hibiki stated with an exasperated look.

The machine looked at the young Taraakan with puzzlement.

David just shook his head checked his hidden datapad and checked up on Starhawk.

_"Today's going to be a long day."_

…

In the depths of the former _Ikazuchi_, a panel opened up at the base of a statue also covered in crystal. Out crept the cowardly Bart, who had been in the base hiding since the explosion had occurred.

"I'm sure in a big mess now!" said Bart with a trembling voice.

As he walked out he looked around the crystal encased room. "What the heck happened to the ship!"

It was then that a piece of crystallized bulkhead broke free and fell down, nearly crushing the young cadet, he let out a scream and landed hard on his rear.

"What's going on here! Dammit, that wasn't funny!" he snarled.

He was just about to crawl up to his feet when saw that he almost ran into something. It was then when he looked up and saw that he had been discovered. A certain light blue haired Dread Squadron leader was aiming her laser-ring at him and her thumb was only a millimeter away from the ring's firing stud.

"Oh, hi there!" he said rather lamely as he gave a nervous laugh and grin.

…

As the two ships continued to reformat themselves, the pirate crew continued to work hard to stop the changes to their vessel, but had no luck in going so. Before long, every circuit, cable relay, and mechanism of their cruiser and the old colony ship were flooded with crystals.

…

**Somewhere on the pirate ship…**

A female crew member was staring up a hole that was filled with crystal.

"WOW! Miss Gasco, it looks like where connected on the inside too!" she said. Other female crew members were still trying to cut the crystals with lasers.

"Well that's just great! I had no idea that the Paksis had such incredible amounts of power and energy. And by the way, it's not _Gasco_ it's GASCOGNE!" she shouted at the girl with an irritated glare and a raised fist as the unfortunate girl cringed back with fear.

…

**Paksis core room… **

At the engineering section of the ship, Parfet and her crew of engineers were trying everything in their power to determine the extent of the damage, but had no idea where to start looking.

Parfet then looked at the console in front of her and examined the readouts it displayed.

"Just as I feared! They're linked down to the core!" she said.

"We have to do something!" said a member of her engineering team.

"Try and insert the Linestar Particle charges into the main cable right away! Just make it so we can control this thing!" she ordered her staff.

As they worked she hoped to examine the armor and weapons of one of the men they had taken prisoner, but had to do this first as she was needed to help stop the corrosive spreading of the Paksis and get the ship back under control.

Not one of her crew or herself were able to see that nearby was a launch bay with a sleek fighter waiting for its master. Its cockpit briefly flared on as one of its consoles began receiving data from its owner and pilot.

…

Back at the cell, David became somewhat puzzled as the data concerning Starhwak came in. The Mech seemed to have been altered in its power structure and system drives. The ship itself however remained intact and most of the data banks were unaffected. Sense he couldn't see the alterations himself, it was hard to tell what other changes were made. David decided to let it be for now until he figured out what to do when he got out of this cell.

…

**In the decontamination chambers…**

"Paiway! Let us out of here now!" Barnette shouted as she pounded on the glass as she and four other girls were being doused in cold water in the chambers.

"We're freezing!" whined another as she shivered.

The sad part of it is that the five women including Barnette were the ones Duero had treated. They were in their undergarments and were facing the soon to become possibility that they would be in danger of catching pneumonia.

However, the young apprentice nurse didn't listen to her comrades, as she sat on her desk and shook her head. "Not until all the male germs are gone."

"Paiway!"

She then directed her attention at her trusty diary. "Even in times of crisis like this, the super cute idol star Paiway does not lose her cool…"

…

**A little while later…**

David watched as the now active robot seemed to be staring at Hibiki. Hibiki seemed to have noticed this as well as he stared right back at the robot.

"Want me to fix you or something?" he asked in irritation.

"Don't make fun of me! I'm not broken!" shouted the robot as he waved his arms angrily in the air.

"Well what do you want?!" Hibiki snapped back angrily.

David found the whole thing amusing. Suddenly he sensed three people coming their way.

Whatever Hibiki was going to say next was cut short with the arrival of Buzam and two security guards, the young man and Duelo looked at their captors while David merely glanced at them.

The two guards were young teens wearing what David guessed was the uniform of the pirates' security guards. While the third in the middle, obviously someone high in the ranks based on the way she carried herself and the way the two guards deferred to her, had silver hair and was staring at them.

"W-WOMEN! What are you planning on doing?! What am I doing in here?!" Hibiki demanded hysterically.

David just rolled his eyes at the boy's panic.

Apparently the silver haired woman had similar thoughts.

"Clam down, this is the safest place for you right now." she said with a smirk.

"Sure you say that but…you want to eat my guts!" he accused.

The silvered haired woman blinked and raised an eyebrow in confusion at him.

"Eat your guts…?"

Then one of the security guards busted out laughing and held her hand to her mouth as she tried in vain to stop herself.

"H-He really believes that!" giggled the second guard.

As much as David would like to remark on Hibiki's ignorance of women and laugh with the three in front of the cell, he needed to keep playing along until he knew what the situation was.

"Before we have dinner I'd like to ask you three something, come with us." she said with a smile while the two guards kept laughing.

David decided not to offer any resistance as he, Hibiki, the robot, and Duelo were escorted under guard. He was a little concerned that his wrists were once again bound by the wrist restraints that were placed on them by the women. The restraints were far better than the men's and appeared to be remote controlled but it wouldn't be a problem for him to uncuff himself. The weapons the women were carrying might make his escape interesting since he was only wearing his bodysuit at the moment. David could also tell that by the way their captors moved, that they were fairly trained and their combat skills were good. But he knew that while he could escape from this mess, he still needed information.

This was an opportunity to gather Intel, such as where he was now in the cosmos and just what the heck had happened to both ships. He had already noticed the changes the Paksis core had caused to both vessels as he noticed the crystals clinging onto the walls as they walked down the halls. He also determined that the changes were similar to what happened to Starhawk and himself. Also he wanted to know what these women were like. After living several months on Taraak, the young Mech pilot had developed a burning curiosity on just how the "fairer sex" of Mejere lived. Walking next to him was Hibiki, the doctor, and the strange robot.

He then noted that Hibiki was staring at the breasts and the butt of the women and from what he could see, the kid was about to touch one of the security personnel's…well…posterior.

"What do they have in there anyway?" whispered Hibiki curiously as he moved in.

David knew what the kid was about to do and he also knew what would likely happen if he did.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" warned David.

However he was too late as Hibiki touched the young girl's rear and naturally the girl let a squeal before turning around with a flushed face and gave Hibiki a very unfriendly glare. She then lashed out and shouted.

"PERVERT!"

SLAP!

David sighed.

"…I tried to warn you."

He didn't notice however that Duelo was looking at him with renewed interest.

As soon as he, Hibiki, and Duelo entered the interrogation chamber they were directed to sit down and did so.

"Oww…why in the heck did she do that?!" Hibiki complained as the Taraak youth was sitting down and trying to relieve the pain as he had a large hand print in red on his cheek. Behind them, the young girl that he had touched was looking away with a look of absolute disgust on her face while her companions were looking at the men.

"A gentleman should never be rude to a lady." the robot said in a reprimanding tone.

"Hey, I don't even know what you're talking about!" Hibiki shouted.

Then everyone in the room noticed two more people entering the room.

"What's up? Did you find another one?" the silver haired women asked one of the new arrivals.

David recognized the light blue haired chick that took a shot at him earlier next to a familiar blond man who had his hands behind his head and who was already in the proverbial "hot seat".

"Yes, he was trying to hide in one of the platforms." she reported neutrally.

"H-Hey there comrades! Glad to see ya here!" he said with a nervous laugh.

Once David saw and heard his fellow prisoner, he instantly recognized him as Bart who he saw at the ceremony. He did a quick evaluation of him and categorized him as a complete non-combatant. He showed no combat experience or on hand tactical knowledge. And to add to that was the way he trembled, making him look even more pathetic to the seasoned soldier.

Suddenly opened and in came their inquisitor who was none other than Captain Magno Vivian, the founder and leader of the pirates herself as she looked over the number of men that were before her. She gave each man a long studying look, though she made her look longer when she reached David, this time she wasn't showing a not so cordial look, no doubt remembering the old vulture remark.

"My goodness, I've heard you rounded up some prisoners but their just kids." she said as she looked at them.

"Hey! It's time to interrogate! I'll tell you everything!" said the little robot as it began hopping to the place where Magno was standing. It was very apparent who's side little machine was on.

The pirate captain looked down and gave a smirk. "Well now, how nostalgic! It's a Navi robot, and this one's still seems to function, eh?"

As soon as she mentioned it David's mind clicked as he remembered where he had seen that type of robot.

_"Now I remember! That's one of those old Navi robots that were in service about a hundred years ago. I haven't seen one of these little guys since I last saw one in a museum. She's right though, this one's in pretty good working order for an ancient machine." _he thought as looked at the little robot next to the elderly captain. Then he turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"I'm not following." Duelo said with curiosity.

"Yeah, this is a men's ship isn't it?" Hibiki asked Magno.

David stayed silent. Though he was aware of the ship's past history as well as the Taraakan's version of what happened during the separation of the ship, he was very curious of hearing the Mejerian's version of what happened during the "unknown circumstances".

The captain looked up from the robot toward Duelo and Hibiki.

"Yes and before that it was used for colonization." she answered simply.

Hibiki jumped up slightly from his seat with a gasp and a shocked expression while Duelo narrowed his visible eye with curiosity while Bart stared at her open mouthed as they were surprised by this revelation. David on the other hand, wasn't as surprised as the other men as he already knew this part and could sense that the elderly captain in front of them had more to tell.

"You really don't know anything do you?" she asked rhetorically with a smirk before continuing.

"This old ship was part of a fleet from a planet called Earth to colonize other worlds. Of course, this happened a very long time ago before your fathers were even born. Unfortunately, your cowardly grandfathers stole this section of the ship and fled into the dead of the night." she finished with her smirk before turning into a frown.

David listened to her story and found this version rather interesting. While it was mostly a shorter, more incomplete version of what he already knew he did learn of what might have happened during the separation of the ship. But for some reason, he felt that there was more the story than that.

The robot nodded as it continued with the explanations. "They overhauled the old battleship and added residential areas to the ship."

Magno then sat down in a chair in front of them.

"And now we find ourselves back in this battleship. This is our business you know so we'll gladly take the ship. But the problem is what are we supposed to do with you guys?" she asked with a sly smile.

"We should get rid of them. Things are unstable enough as it is and they are a security risk." Meia suggested while eyeing David in particular.

"No reason to be hasty! We'll carefully consider exactly how we want to cook these fellas up." she said with a lick of her lips.

That statement seemed to have made Hibiki sweat and Bart nearly piss in his pants, but Duelo and David remained calm. Duelo had been trained to keep his focus as a medic. But in the case of David, while he was trained by the military and by the best Special Operations force, he felt extremely annoyed by Hibiki and Bart's reaction to her obvious bluff.

"Oh give me a break! You two don't actually believe ALL of that propaganda garbage do you?! You guys at least know that she's lying right?"

Bart and Hibiki looked at David with confusion; Duelo simply looked at him curiously, while in Magno's case, she was intrigued. "My, my, you seem to be quite brave to say such things."

David gave her a slightly insulted look.

"Bravery has nothing to do with it. You could say that I belong to a more open minded people. I like to confirm things after I see and experience them first hand. Besides, what I've seen so far pretty much fits the bill right to the letter." he told her simply while staring unwavering at her.

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?" the pirate captain asked curiously.

David paused for a moment.

"From what I've gathered on both your cultures and planets, the people of Taraak and Mejere have had next to no real contact with one another as you have pretty much isolated yourselves from each other. It doesn't take a certified genius to decipher that during that long period of isolationism, rumors, myths, and misinformation about the opposite gender would develop. And it's quite obvious to assume that in order to maintain the fear and hatred of the opposite gender, the governments would create horror stories and propaganda to make the fear and hatred paramount in their respective societies, correct? And from what I've seen from you pirates, you've capitalized on that fear quite well. Those space suits of yours for example, the ones that your crew used when boarding the ship, were based from what the Taraakan government would show to their people. Since they show that women were monsters, then those formless space suits and those intimidating masks would provide your crew with an effective psychological edge. Am I right?" he asked casually.

Magno's narrowed her eyes at him and BC became rather tense. David gave a nod and a knowing look at seeing their reactions which answered his question for him and confirming everything he had said so far.

David then continued with his observation. "That's a very common and unremarkable battle strategy you know. Playing on the fears of your opponents, make them sweat, keep them off balance, and make them indecisive. Doing that insures that victory is half-way in your grasp, so long as your enemy doesn't wise up." David finished his own explanations with a smug smile.

Duelo nodded as he looked at the young man with awe and curiosity.

"You've certainly earned your reputation as an elite." Duelo complimented as he gazed at the Terra Novusian.

Magno looked at David silently and then gave a condescending smile to him. "Very good, what's your name young man?"

"David."

"Well…David…you are rather one interesting man."

The young Mech pilot chuckled a bit and gave a slight grin.

"Oh, I'm a LOT more interesting than you know." David said calmly. "In fact, though I might look it I'm actually not from Taraak."

Magno's eyes widen slightly at that while everyone else was in a state of surprise and shock, especially the men from Taraak.

Magno quickly recovered from her surprise and stared at David with a neutral expression.

"Really? Do you have proof that you're not a man from Taraak?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I already gave you one…" David replied with a look that was hinting something.

Magno was silent for a moment until she recalled the way he made his earlier explanation.

"You said that Taraak and Mejere were _our_ worlds but you didn't say that Taraak was _yours_..." she said as realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I was wondering when you would catch on to that." David remarked giving her a condescending smile of his own. "But if you don't believe me, I can show you proof right now if you would like?"

Magno pondered on this for a moment, with everyone else watching in anticipation, before nodding. "Alright young man, show us this proof of yours."

"Captain, are you sure about this?" asked Meia as she glared at David.

"It's alright Meia. I'm actually quite curious." the captain assured her then she looked back to him. "Go ahead."

David stood up and nodded.

He leaned his head slightly forward while lifting his cuffed hands to his face then he carefully removed the contacts from his eyes and placed them in his left hand. Closing his eyes he reached behind his ear with his right hand, made a small tear on the synthetic skin with his nail, and pulled.

Magno watched David as he removed something that looked like contact lens from his eyes which he quickly closed so she couldn't see what his eyes now looked like. She saw him move his hand behind his right ear and what he did next sent a chill down her spine. He pulled with his hand and started to peel the skin of his face off with Magno trying to keep herself composed while everyone else in the room had mixed reactions to this.

Next to her B.C. tensed as she stood in readiness to retaliate against whatever he might do, Meia had a less favorable reaction as she raised and pointed her laser ring at David. One of the two guards who escorted the men gasped as she held her hand to her face while the second let out a terrified shriek at what she was seeing. Hibiki yelped in shock as he leaned away from David and Bart's face turned white as a sheet with his mouth open and his eyes wide as he watched David peeling his face off. Duelo out of all the occupants of the room showed the least reaction as he watched the scene before him with great interest.

When David finally pulled the synthetic skin off, his face now showed his natural light skin tone and opened his eyes revealing his light amethyst colored irises. Everyone stared at David with surprise as B.C. relaxed her stance and Meia lowered her laser ring upon seeing that he wouldn't try anything. David looked at the surprised faces around him then he finally turned to Bart.

"Hey you." David said looking at Bart. Bart snapped out of his trance pointed a finger to himself and David nodded.

"Yes you. Would you mind holding on to these for me chumley?" asked David with a smile as he tossed the synthetic skin and contacts to Bart.

The blond man instinctively caught them and paled when he looked down and saw what he was holding. In the palms of his cuffed hands was the loose mask-like synthetic skin with three holes for the mouth and nose with the contact lens somehow ending up covering the eyes holes, giving it an eerie visage.

The very unnerved Bart let out a terrified yelp before quickly throwing the synth skin and contacts to Hibiki.

"W-Why the heck did you give it to me for?!" shouted a thoroughly creeped out Hibiki as he tossed the items to Duelo.

Duelo simply brought the items closer to his face as he examined them.

"Fascinating."

Taking advantage of the distraction David turned back to the captain.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Lieutenant David Angelus of the Terra Novusian Alliance Military." he said formally. Then he lifted his cuffed hands. "I would salute but I'm a bit tied up at the moment." he added with a mock apologetic smirk.

Magno eyed him curiously. "So, since you're not from Taraak and you're clearly not from Mejere, where are you from and why are you here?"

"I'm from a planet called Terra Novus which is far from Taraak or Mejere and as to why I am here. Let's just say that I was on a mission." David replied smoothly as he looked at Magno unwaveringly.

"Captain we should tossed this man off the ship! He is clearly a threat!" Meia blurted as she pointed her laser ring at him again.

"Hey now! That's no way to thank the guy who helped you get on the ship." David said calmly as he looked at Meia.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked venomously as she narrowed her eyes at him. Everyone else looked at him in confusion.

"Didn't you find it the least bit strange that the turrets of the ship you were attacking fired on its own units? Or that its hangar bay doors just suddenly opened for you to fly in?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That was you?" asked a surprised B.C. as she along with Meia noticed the oddity of the Taraak forces.

David nodded.

"Just a little virus I had uploaded that disrupted the ship's internal systems." he explained simply. "Don't worry," he added quickly upon seeing the look of alarm on the women's faces. "It was designed to purge itself after a certain period of time which it has." The women relaxed after hearing that.

"Not to sound ungrateful but…why did you help us?" asked a slightly suspicious B.C.

"Because we both had similar interests. You wanted the ship and I wanted to get off the ship, so I helped you to help me complete my mission." David said simply.

Magno and B.C. nodded.

"I see. And what was your mission exactly?" asked the captain.

"I'm afraid that's classified but I'm sure you'll want to talk to me about this later." he replied with a sly smile. "But before that, don't you have these guys to sort out first."

Magno looked at him suspiciously for moment before nodding. "Yes…"

Then she turned to the three other men and Hibiki started to pale and sweating bullets.

…

**In the garden…**

"None of them matches!" groaned the brown haired girl with the simple dress as she looked at the constellations outside through a hand held telescope. "I just don't get it!"

"You don't get? It's an amazing thing to come across aliens!" said Dita as she looked out to the stars while they both stood in a garden with occasional blue crystals that jutted from the ground.

"You're right it is amazing. We thought the Paksis was just an energy source, but it restored the whole ship!" the brunette observed as she continued looking through the telescope.

"And made it like new!" Dita sighed blissfully to herself with her eyes closed and a faraway expression on her face. "That means if I could get abducted…."

Then she noticed the brunette next to her sighing in disappointment.

"Ezra what's the matter? Don't you feel well?" she asked curiously.

"Oh I'm fine Dita. I was just thinking about everyone." she replied with a reassuring smile.

Dita looked back to the vast array of stars before her. "I think about them too. All the people we had to leave behind at the base."

Ezra also looked back to the starry vista. "I hope we can get back to them soon."

Dita then blinked and breathed out in excitement when she saw something in the distance.

"What is it Dita?" Ezra asked wondering what the red head was looking at.

"Hey look at that over there!" exclaimed Dita as she pointed to what see was seeing.

Ezra looked through her telescope. "Where?"

Then she noticed three dots on her telescopes scanner heading towards them. "What do you think they could be?" she asked with concern etching her voice.

She was then taken aback when Dita suddenly jumped next to her with a glazed over, starry look on her face as several images came into her mind… concerning little green men and floating discs.

"Isn't it obvious Ezra? Their UFO's with more aliens!" she beamed excitedly.

…

**Back in the interrogation room…**

Magno raised a spoon and ate a bite of jello from the bowl in her lap as she looked at the men seated in front of her.

"So that boy is a soldier of some kind and that young man with the long hair is a doctor. But what about the other one?" asked Magno while indicating David, Duelo, and Hibiki respectively as B.C. and Meia, along with the Navi robot who was giving the men the evil eyes, stood alongside her.

"He's an attacker." stated Meia as she looked neutrally at Hibiki.

"What a minute! I'm not a-" Hibiki started as he rose but was interrupted when Bart elbowed him the gut knocking the breath out of his lungs and making him double over.

David discreetly narrowed his eyes at Bart, immediately aware that the other man was planning something.

Hibiki looked up from his seat and stared at a smug Bart angrily. "Why you…!" he gasped.

"I happened to notice him climbing into an enemy power suit." Meia continued as if not noticing the conflict between the two.

David turned his attention from Bart to Hibiki.

_"So the kid was here to steal a Vanguard?"_ Despite how obviously stupid it was for him to do that, David was somewhat impressed. There was practically next to no third class citizen on Taraak that would've worked up the nerve to pull off something like the kid tried to do.

"Oh?" Magno asked as eyed Hibiki curiously.

"W-Wait a second-!" Hibiki started but as before was interrupted, this time by the intercom.

_"There's something approaching us!"_ reported a women's voice over the intercom.

"Is it male reinforcements?" B.C. asked pulling out her communicator.

_"Actually-"_

_"THEY'RE UFOS!"_ interrupted Dita with an excited shout.

David was left a little confused at what he just heard.

_"UFOs…?"_

At the very same time at Dita's explanation of the newly approaching objects the ship shuddered from the force of some form of impact.

_"They're attacking us!"_ Ezra cried with alarm.

_"THE ALIENS ARE UPON US!"_ screamed Dita.

"Danger! Danger!" shouted the panicked Navi robot as it ran around the room in alarm.

"What's going on now?" asked a shell-shocked Hibiki.

"A battle." David said calmly with Hibiki looking at him in confusion.

Suddenly rocked violently as more impacts hit the ship causing Magno to drop her bowl of jello.

"Oh no! My afternoon snack!" she cried in dismay as she looked down at the shattered remains of her snack on the floor.

"Dread's are going out!" Meia said calmly as she ran out of the room.

"Parfet! Can you get the ship to move?" asked B.C. through the communicator.

…

**Engine room…**

"That's impossible, I can't control it at all! And the automatic defense system is barely functional!" she reported with a hint of fear.

…

**Elsewhere…**

As the attacks continued to rock the ship, Meia pulled out a communicator as she was running down a corridor heading for her Dread.

"Barnette, where are you?" she asked through her communicator.

…

**Decontamination chamber….**

"Paiway locked us in the decontamination room with showers on and we can't get out!" sobbed a distressed Barnette while Paiway grinned evilly from outside a window.

…

_"Miss Gasco what about you?"_ asked Meia through the comm.

…

**Elsewhere…**

"The Dreads can't get out. They've been swallowed up by Paksis. There's nothing I can do but I'll head up there right now." Gasco replied as various other women continued to drill through the crystals.

_"Roger!"_

"And listen…it's not Gasco, it's Gascogne!" she growled in annoyance.

…

Meia continued to run down the corridors with communicator in hand hoping to reach someone.

"Jura, what is your location?" she asked as she ran.

_"I'm on my way towards the platform right now!"_ Jura reported.

…

As soon as Jura entered the Vanguard she suddenly stopped and gasped as she saw the changes made to three Dreads.

Dita shortly arrived and gaped at what she was seeing.

Within the huge room were their Dreads, but the ships somehow took new configurations after being engulfed by the power of the Paksis.

"What is going on around here…?" Jura asked as she looked at their respective ships.

"Wow!" Dita gasped, as she looked awed at the sight.

Meia also stopped briefly, but then shook herself from her stupor. She then ran for her Dread and didn't hesitate to board it. As she reached it and climbed aboard, the Jura and Dita also did the same and entered their ships, and as soon as they were onboard they checked the systems.

Inside her Dread, Meia did quick but through systems check and nodded with relief. "Looks like the systems haven't changed much. How about you two?"

"I think I can fly." Jura reported through her comm. link.

"I'm positive! They must have been powered up!" Dita responded with excitement ruling her voice. "This is so exciting!"

"Just don't do anything reckless! Alright!" Meia warned her team.

"Roger!" they both replied.

Her fighter then lifted off and flew to the direction of the hanger, followed closely by her were her wing mates. They were soon in the void of space and were immediately attacked by the…enemy.

The new force that was their enemies were not like any model the Dread pilots had ever seen before. Small fighter ships shaped like odd-shaped octopi that began letting loose a powerful volley after volley of laser and cannon fire at the fused ships and the three Dreads trying to defend it from them.

"Excuse me Mr. Aliens! We're really a peaceful race! Maybe we talk about what's bothering you!" Dita cried out as she managed to make her craft dodge the incoming stream of weapons fire from her pursuers.

Jura winced as her Dread took enemy fire on the stern.

"Dita! These are our enemies!" Jura scolded through the comm. link, then she paused. "Huh? What a minute, she was never that good a pilot…" she muttered as she began to wonder just how did Dita's skills had improved so dramatically. She had managed to do a complex evasion pattern despite her still present lack of experience with her Dread.

Meia noted that her fighter's response time was better than before as she managed to dodge the barrage of fire from more of the alien fighters as she downed one of them. "The controls respond differently."

"I'm not sure who the enemy is. They're definitely not men." Jura assured as she got into contact with Meia.

"That's obvious isn't it?! They're really BAD aliens!" Dita shouted with anger as she continued to dodge the incoming fire as she also got into contact with Meia.

"Oh boy…" sighed Jura at Dita's behavior.

Some distance behind the fighters was their mothership; the alien vessel was shaped like a massive seed. Every once in a while during certain intervals the mothership's maw would open releasing two massive cubes, which would immediately break apart into new fighters.

Meia eyes narrowed as she saw the new incoming fighters. "What are these things? Are they really aliens?"

….

**Interrogation room…**

Several voices came over the comm. as women from different sections of the ship were reporting in or requesting assistance.

"B.C. take control of the bridge." ordered Magno.

"Gotcha!" acknowledged B.C. with a nod as she started to run out of the room.

Magno winced and B.C. stumbled to a stop as the ship took several more direct hits from their new opponents. Then a section of the wall in the interrogation chamber exploded behind them, and a scream tore through the room. They then saw that debris from the collapsed wall had fallen on top of one the guards.

At this point, Duelo decided to place his skills and knowledge as a physician to work. He began getting up, just as the second female guard tried to help her injured comrade who was trapped by the blown section of the wall.

"Are you okay? Don't worry I'll get you out of here!" she sobbed.

"No you mustn't move her!" Duelo shouted.

She instantly pointed her laser-ring at him, but Duelo held up his hands to a non-threatening gesture. Duelo then spoke to the young crew-member. "Don't worry, I'm a doctor. I just want to see if I can help her."

The girl lowered the ring, and as soon as that happened Duelo began instructing her to help remove the debris from her injured comrade. Once that was done he went on to check for any broken bones and gave the signal that the injured female had no broken bones from the impact.

Bart watched as Duelo worked and sensed an opportunity. He then turned to Magno.

"Well now. It seems that you could use some assistance here." he said getting Magno and B.C.'s attention.

David looked at the young Taraak cadet with a suspicious look, as he suspected the cowardly cadet was making his move on trying to make himself more useful than he actually was.

The captain likewise gave a look to the smooth talker, as she too was suspicious of him.

Bart nodded as he continued to explain. "While the fact is that we are mutual enemies, right now we're going to need to make our survival a top priority. And well, you may wish to use my skills. You see…the truth is that I am actually a helmsman."

_"That's a load of bull if I ever heard one! I looked over the crew manifest myself and I know for a fact that he isn't a helmsman."_ David thought as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh? So you're a helmsman are you?" asked Magno, though clearly not entirely convinced either.

"Warning! This guy is trying to pull something!" The Navi-bot said as it pointed a finger at Bart.

"You keep quiet now!" Magno commanded the little machine.

"Sorry!"

She then addressed Bart again. "Well then…what is it that you have to say?"

"Okay, I was thinking that we could call a cease-fire for now, maybe we can all find a way to help each other somehow." he explained as he approached the captain. "It would be smarter for us to gather our forces and get over this crisis together."

While he knew that Bart's motives were far from simply being helpful, David had to admit that it was a smart idea that he came up with.

"Interesting…That's not a bad idea." she remarked.

Bart gave a nervous laugh and smiled. "I appreciate you listening to my advice. So, what do you say we shake on it?" he asked as he offered his hand to Magno.

The pirate captain responded by slapping away Bart's hand with her cane and then stood up. "Now listen closely, I have no wish of getting chummy with you. You'll still be treated as a prisoner."

Bart nervously laughed again as he clutched his hand. "Whatever you say Madam!"

"I can't do anything here!" yelled Duelo getting the captain and Bart's attention.

"She's in critical condition! Take me to sickbay!" he demanded with urgency.

Magno walked forward and looked back at Bart. "Alright then you come to the bridge with me young man."

"What should I do with these two captian?" B.C. asked as she directed her gaze at David who was standing and Hibiki who was cowering in a corner on his knees with his hands over his head.

"Take them down to the warehouse." Magno ordered.

"Right!"

…

Meanwhile the battle out in space continued to rage on and it seemed that for every fighter the Dreads would destroy, four more would take the place of those destroyed by the Dreads. It wasn't long before the three pirates found themselves badly outnumbered.

"There's just too many of them! We've got to strike the main ship!" Jura said as she contacted Meia through the comm.

"I agree. But if there was some way we could get our ship mobilized…" she started but stopped when she had to brace herself from enemy fire that impacted her Dread.

…

**Near the prison cells….**

David and Hibiki stood in an unused area as a guard kept watch over them from behind while B.C. examined a tear in the wall.

"Looks like it will be awhile before this place stabilizes. I'm afraid there won't be too much hope for us if we can't get control of the ship. It would probably be the end of us if the men attacked." she said as she moved away from the breach.

Hibiki fidgeted a little but stayed quiet while David merely stood there.

"I see. But I doubt you'll have to worry about the men from Taraak attacking you if your new friends outside have anything to say about it." David said calmly as he continued to stand where he was.

B.C. looked at him.

"You don't seem… worried about what's happening. You do realize that if we lose this battle we will lose everything, including our lives? Your fellow men are risking their lives to help battle the enemy. Perhaps you can go out there and help as well?"

"This battle doesn't concern me. Why should I get involved? As you will recall, I'm not from your worlds so I have no loyalty to either your world or Taraak for that matter. And I have no more reason to get involved in this than I had in being mixed in your worlds petty conflicts." he replied neutrally.

"Oh? Are you a coward then? I had heard that soldiers always protected the weak and helped those in need. Was that a lie? Or don't you care that everyone here might die?" she asked unperturbed by the slight in his remark.

David gave her an even look.

"You seem to think that you know a lot about me, don't you?"

"No I don't. But I do know that everyone, men or women, must make choices in their lives and live with the consequences of the decisions that they make. Whether that means fighting for someone who can't fight and needs help or doing nothing. If you decide to just stay here and do nothing then you will have to consider what kind of person you'll become by doing so." she told David as she stared unwaveringly at him.

David smiled. "Good answer."

B.C. blinked in surprise. "What?"

While the group was on their way to the cells, David had already considered his options and weighed the risks and the possible results of whatever choice he made. Since he was obviously nowhere near Alliance space or any ships of the Alliance, as the beacon has as of yet to activate so he couldn't count on back up, he had few options. He knew that if he did decide to go out and fight, then there was a chance that he would still be a prisoner as soon as this crisis ended. And if they got back to the Gemini system, where Taraak and Mejere where, before he returned to Alliance territory he might very well wind up as a lab specimen. Plus, they would try and take Starhawk from him. The Mech was more than just a war machine to David, it was a symbol of trust given to him by Rear Admiral Gardner to safeguard not only the future of Terra Nova but all of Humanity as well and there was no way he would hand it over to anybody.

Though he could just try to make it to Alliance space himself, it was safer to travel through unknown space in a larger group. More importantly while his mission was complete, he felt compelled to stay in order to protect the Paksis and because of the vision he received earlier. While he wasn't sure what it meant, David knew a psionic vision when he saw one and he knew from his past experiences that to ignore one was unwise. Besides, he had been in plenty of situations where didn't need to get involved but he had made worthwhile friends and allies when he did. So he made a decision.

"I already had every intention of helping you since I have a feeling that whoever is attacking won't be any friendlier to me than are to you which makes it both our problem. I just wanted to know what kind of people I was helping." he explained.

Then David gave B.C. a smile. "Could you contact your captain so I can tell her myself?" he asked politely.

B.C. just seemed to stare at him for a moment before giving him a smile of her own.

"Alright, we'll use this old terminal." she said with a nod then she walked over to an intercom unit.

"Captain?" B.C. called to the terminal as she contacted the bridge through it.

Then Magno's face appeared on the screen. "What is it B.C.?"

"One of the men here has something interesting he would like to say." B.C. reported.

"Oh?"

B.C. then motioned for David to approach. After he got in front of the screen to where Magno could see him, he looked her squarely in the eyes.

"I'm going to fight Captain." David said simply as he spoke to her through the communication network.

"What did you say?" Magno asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Those three Dreads out there are outnumbered and outgunned, right? I'll go out and lend them a hand."

"Are you a pilot then? Can you fly those Vanguards?"

David wore a slightly disgusted look at that. "Those flying death traps? I am a pilot, but I don't pilot Vanguards."

"If you're not a pilot for the Vanguards, then how do you expect to fight? Can you pilot Dreads?"

"Since I've never even set foot on Megele before how do you expect me to pilot a Dread when I've never seen one, much less pilot one?" he asked with an amused look.

"So how do you intend to fight?" Magno asked who was getting somewhat impatient.

"I brought my own unit on the ship. I know how to fly it and I'm the only one who can use it. If you'll let me I'll board it and help you deal with whoever's attacking the ship."

"How can I be sure that you won't just run away?"

"I give you my word as a soldier of the Terra Novusian Alliance that I'll fight for you and your crew. Now are you going to let me help you, or are you willing to lose your ship, your crew, and your life?" David said evenly as he held his hands in front of the monitor.

Magno looked into David's light violet eyes and considered it for a moment. She then gave a nod and turned to B.C.

"Get those restraints off." she ordered. The commander nodded and was about to press the control switch to uncuff him.

"No need." David said simply as the restraints, much to the shock and surprise of Magno, B.C., Hibiki, and the guard, snapped open after David had unlocked them.

David twirled the cuffs on one of his index fingers for a moment before tossing it to B.C. who deftly caught it. "I'll be ready to launch in three minutes. I hope that your Dreads can hold on a bit longer out there."

Magno nodded. "They will, just hurry!"

Without a word David ran straight for the hangar where his Mech last was.

As soon as he left the area, the monitor to the bridge turned off and B.C. was about to keep moving with their sole male prisoner.

"Hey-um…" Hibiki nervously called to B.C.

B.C. then turned her head back to him with a curious expression. "What is it?"

"Uh, I know I haven't really said too much to you so far but I-I want to say something. What I wanna say is that…I'm not actually the pilot of the Vanguard." he said weakly while his eyes looked away nervously from B.C.

B.C. slightly narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"The truth is that I'm just a third class parts mechanic that's all. I guess somehow I just didn't have the nerves to tell you before…" he explained nervously while still not looking at B.C.

"Huh? Then what are you doing here?" she asked in slight surprise.

"That's a really funny question actually. You see I…sort of got suckered into doing this pretty stupid thing. I kinda said that I would steal one of the Vanguards." he confessed. He let out a small laugh at his own apparent stupidity. "I mean, I don't want to give you the wrong idea…"

"I guess the data we have is incorrect because I had always heard that men were a proud race. But who would have ever thought that they were such pathetic beings." she interrupted as she gave him a look of mock pity and amusement.

Hibiki gasped as he was taken aback by that.

"No matter what the reason, aren't you here because of your pride? Or is it that you got yourself into this situation because of your need to show proof of your own existence?" she asked sternly while narrowing her eyes at him.

Hibiki looked down and said nothing as his eyes widened in shock.

"Male or female, it doesn't matter right now. In situations like this what it comes down to is that we are all human beings that breathe the same oxygen. While there are people around you desperately trying to survive this crisis, are you simply going to curl up like a little helpless baby and wait for the final moment to come? What deficiencies are trying to make up for? What do you think you can hide at a time like this? No matter how much of a loser you are or how uncool you are. If you cower at every obstacle that gets in front of you nothing will change. And without change your whole race will shrivel up and die. Do you understand that?"

Hibiki went down on his knees and looked down helplessly at the floor as his hands curled into fists.

"I-I don't know… I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" cried Hibiki in despair.

B.C. looked down at Hibiki for a moment before closing her eyes. "I guess I didn't need to say all that."

"Let's get back to the bridge!" she ordered to her subordinate and then began to walk towards the exit.

"Yes but what about him?" asked the female guard.

"Don't worry, this guy doesn't have anywhere to run to now. And neither do we." she said as she briefly looked back to Hibiki.

With that both of the women left the area leaving a depressed Hibiki on the floor.

…

**Bridge…**

Bart gasped, as he was lead towards the transformed bridge which consisted of a massive view port overhead and at the forward section, six comm stations of which three where occupied, the command chair for the captain, and a platform which extended from the deck and had a pool shaped ending that overlooked the garden below.

"W-What is this thing?!" asked a nervous Bart as he looked over the edge.

"The bridge has been extended all the way out to their." replied Magno as she watched from behind.

"Look at that!" said the Navi robot in awe while Bart became even more nervous.

"Now show us what you can do." Magno commanded.

For a moment Bart didn't move and when it looked like he wasn't going to move, Magno shoved him forward with the end of her cane.

"H-Hey watch it! This is dangerous!" he shouted as he stumbled to the walkway.

He walked to the pool-like pad while Magno and the Navi robot watched the cadet.

Bart inched closer to the pool and looked at the surface of blue-green colored liquid. "What the heck…?!"

"What's wrong? Are you saying that you don't know how to operate it?" asked Magno.

"No! H-How should I put this? It's just that it's one of our military's closely guarded secrets!" he quickly explained to cover his fear. Bart then moved to the edge of the opening and cautiously placed his foot on the surface of the pool.

"Umm, let's see now. Should do this-WAAHHH!" he screamed as the pool formed into a tentacle, took hold of his leg and dragged him into itself with a flash of a pillar of light.

Both Magno and the Navi robot stared with wide eyes.

"My, that's some secret weapon!" breathed the old woman as she stared at the now serene looking pool.

"He doesn't know how to use it, does he?" the robot asked with well-crafted innocence.

Inside the liquid pool, Bart suddenly found himself naked and floating in some sort of virtual reality environment.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" he shouted as looked around in confusion.

All of a sudden, he saw images of the battle raging outside and he naturally reacted with his streak of cowardice.

He let out a piercing scream as he thrashed about in the environment, the entire ship thrashed with his movements, catching everyone on the ship off-guard.

"Well what do you know? The ship moved!" Magno remarked as she sat in her command chair.

…

**Hanger bay…**

David made it to the Starhawk and noticed something different about it. While physically the appearance of Mech hadn't really changed but he could see that some of the internal systems had a strange crystal encased around the power systems. He jumped into the cockpit and began checking the systems of his unit. It didn't take long for him to find that all the systems were green and in optimal combat condition.

He nodded in satisfaction and contacted the bridge.

"I'm ready to launch! Just what kind of targets are we dealing with and how many?"

Magno answered. "Unknown, I hope that you and that machine of yours can handle what's out there."

David merely nodded as he closed his unit's cockpit. "Don't worry, my Mech Starhawk and I can handle whatever's out there."

"Mech? Starhawk?"

"That's what my unit is and the name of it. Tell your pilots that back-up is on the way!"

As soon the hangar doors opened the Starhawk rushed out into the void with blinding speed.

When David caught sight of the enemy he clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the controls as he narrowed his eyes while staring angrily at what he was seeing.

_"It's them…"_ he thought with a growl.

…

"Captain! The enemy's all around us, I don't know how much longer we can hold them!" Meia reported as she maneuvered her Dread dodging incoming fire.

"Don't worry, reinforcements are on the way!" Magno assured as she appeared on the comm channel.

"Reinforcements? Who is it?" Meia asked as she and her wing mates were in desperate need of help as the numbers of the alien fighters became too much for the three of them to handle without any support.

"That interesting one." Magno replied cryptically.

"Who?" Meia asked curiously.

"I don't care who she is, she'd better hurry!" Jura whined a bit as she dodged some more attacks from the enemy fighters.

A new voice broke in. "Who said anything about your back-up being female?"

Just then an object burst forth from the bottom of the pirate vessel and streaked towards the enemy groups with a blaze of light trailing behind it. And the speeding object was…

"IT'S MR. OTHER ALIEN!" Dita cried out with joy as she spotted Starhawk and instantly recognized the Mech that freed her from before.

"He's our reinforcements?!" asked Meia as she looked at the strange fighter.

…

To the astonished eyes of the women and the men onboard, the machine that came out looked like a Dread but was slightly longer, sleeker, and had narrower features with thin sweeping leveled wings and was colored in shades of white, black, dark blue, and silver.

…

As the Starhawk surged forward to engage the enemy, David watched the enemy fighters while he targeted them.

_"It's the Harvesters! I didn't think they had spread their operations this far out yet! They must have detected the Paksis's energy signature when we arrived. It's a good thing I decided to fight."_ he thought as he very well knew what the consequences would be if he and the pirates lost this battle.

So when he locked-on to an enemy Cube fighter, he opened fire with the twin Proton CWIS's without hesitation.

The Cube fighter exploded instantly as rapid streaks of round orange weapons fire destroyed the target. He quickly targeted three more fighters and fired the Starhawk's two Plasma Guns and Ion Railgun destroying them in flashes of purple and blue. Then eight Cube fighters peeled away from their assaults on the Dreads and converged, heading straight for him.

_"Alright, time to get serious."_ he thought with a smile.

He flew his Mech into the light of a nearby sun and what came out from the other side caught the women completely off guard.

…

Shocked and in awe, they saw a new unit emerge from the light of the sun. It was like a Vanguard but it was larger and had a pair of wing-like thrusters and a layer of hip armor on either side. The machine was colored with the scheme of the fighter and had bright blue narrow slit eyes on its humanoid knight looking head that had avian-like features. Its two wings spread and out came massive bursts of light from its engines.

…

Now in its Mechanoid form, the Starhawk was now sixty feet tall carrying the duel Plasma Guns, now rifles, in its hands. The CWIS's were now on its upper chest just below the neckline with the missile pods mounted within its shoulders while the railgun attached behind the waist. It was also equipped with two Plasma Energy Sabers that were stored in the hip armor on both sides while the ends of the Mech's "wings" as before held the two Particle Cannons.

David targeted the six Cube fighters with his rifle and missile pods and pressed the firing mechanism. A small port slide open on the left shoulder launching two missiles which darted rapidly toward the Cube fighters. Then the two anti-matter Swarmer missiles split into six and destroyed their respective targets before the fighters could evade while the two remaining Cube fighters were eliminated by precise shots from the Mech's rifle.

Then he noticed a blue Dread being tailed by a trio Cube fighters and it was trying desperately to evade their fire. He recognized the Dread as being the same one he freed earlier.

_"I'd better go help her out…again." _he thought with a sigh.

With that he turned Starhawk toward the Dread and the Cube fighters while putting away a Plasma Rifle and drawing out a cylinder shaped device, igniting it into one of his blue violet sabers.

_"I just hope I don't get transported or blown up this time…"_

…

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Dita screamed, as the three enemy fighters were about to fire on her Dread. However, the three fighters then broke into neatly dissected pieces as if torn apart by a massive knife and exploded into pieces. As the light faded she looked out in astonishment as a certain machine stood on the side of one of the booms of her Dread. The person's face showed itself on her commlink and while his face was different she smiled as she somehow knew that it was David.

"Mr. Other Alien!" she cried with joy.

David gave a sigh.

"Could you please stop calling me that?" he asked in a slightly irritated tone. He had quickly bypassed the Dread squad's comm. safeguard protocols that allowed him to easily patch into the Dread's communication systems.

David immediately went into action as he put away the saber, drew out his rifle that he had attached to the hip, and directed his Mech to make a quick strafing run. Starhawk opened its wings and charged right into the fight.

After locking-on to as many targets as it could Starhawk unleashed a massive barrage of fire from its Plasma Rifles, CWIS's, shoulder-mounted missile pods, and wing-mounted Particle Cannons that folded forward from behind. Hundreds of energy blasts and dozens of missiles tore through the Cube fighter's armor with no difficulty, turning large numbers of the enemy forces into nothing but floating debris.

With over thirty of its fighters were destroyed, it wasn't a surprise that the main ship of the enemy decided to redirect its focus in taking out David and his Mech. It opened up and unleashed two cubes that immediately turned into two more groups of enemy fighters. David however wasn't the least bit troubled by the new forces. He drew his Ion Railgun from behind, took aim, and fired with a massive blue beam that tore through the enemy formation, destroying half of both groups' fighters. Then he extended his awareness and took out both sabers from the sides of Starhawk and ignited them.

With that David dived into the fray and began striking out against the remaining forces. The fighter's armor proved ineffective as the plasma weapons sliced through them and turned more of the fighters into scrap. Several fighters tried to escape from his sabers, but David locked on and fired his wing mounted Particle Cannons and took them out. Several more attacked from above and he retaliated by deflecting the shots with his sabers and then countered by launching Swarmer Missiles, taking out his attackers.

He then ignited the secondary blade on his right beam saber, turning it into a double ended blade, he then threw the weapon which tore apart several more fighters as it spun while he used the left to slice an enemy that was behind. David moved Starhawk to recover its beam saber and stood ready as it took out five more targets, eliminating any of the still active fighters. He then combined the inactivate ends of his saber created a long double bladed lance and placed it in his left hand while drawing a rifle in his right, surrounded by more debris of the ruined fighters. The enemy had managed to fire several direct shots, but the Starhawk's Duratanium armor wasn't even scratched by the blasts as the blue Tachyon Shield covered the Mech.

….

**On the pirate ship…**

"Impossible! Is that a Vanguard?!" B.C. gasped as the fight ensued with many of the alien fighters were now flaming debris floating in space.

Magno was completely at a loss for words. She had to admit that the young man was right. He _was_ a lot more interesting than she had thought.

Everyone else on the ship who were able to see from the bridge to engineering section were also left speechless.

….

**Out in space, in a trio of Dreads…**

"He is sooo… elegant!" Jura beamed with admiration as she stared in wonder at the Mech.

_"For a man-made machine, it's very graceful!"_ she thought in appreciation of the unit.

Dita's eyes were glittering as she gazed at the unit. "YAY TO MR. OTHER ALIEN!" she cheered.

Meia was, like her captain, utterly speechless.

_"That male pilot's reaction time was less than half of the average time! That shouldn't be possible!"_ Meia thought as she stared in disbelief at fluid movements of the Mech.

…

David spotted the Seed mothership release more fighters. He knew that it was time to further up his game. He activated the computer's targeting system and locked on the new threats.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THESE LIVES!" he roared.

The Starhawk destroyed a couple of targets with its rifle before it spun and transformed into its fighter mode then accelerated toward the enemy. David then fired the railgun obliterating most of the targets and went into a roll as David dodged the enemy's counterattack before transforming back into its Mech mode. He fired most of his weapons with the many energy blasts and missiles completely atomizing the new fighters and impacting the Seed ship causing some damage to it.

The Starhawk floated were it was and was poised to strike.

"Alright, who's next?" David challenged ready to take on whatever the enemy dished out.

…

**Sickbay…**

Duelo cleared some clutter off a table with the feet of the injured guard he had been carrying on his way to sickbay and gently laid her down.

He then quickly went to a console near the examination bed.

"Hmm…nothings working." noted Duelo. He looked back to his patient. "Alright, looks like we'll have to do it my way." he concluded with a small smirk as he rolled up a sleeve.

This made the other guard who accompanied him extremely nervous as she turned her back to him and quickly reached for her communicator.

"Paiway are you there?!"

…

**Decontamination room…**

All around the room and in the decontamination chamber women groaned in misery as they waited to be released or treated.

"SHUT UP! NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO GET HURT!" shouted an extremely annoyed Paiway.

…

It was at that time that the once dormant engines roared to life as Bart used the oldest maneuver in the book, retreat.

"NO! GET AWAY!" he screamed as he turned the ship around and flew it away from the enemy.

However the enemy had no intention of letting them escape so easily, as the mothership pursued them while unleashing more fighters.

"Their main ship is in pursuit!" reported a crew member who manned a comm station.

"Meia's group and the male pilot are attempting to intercept it. But it looks like they can't get close to it!" reported a second.

B.C. then stood next to her captain. "Is there a chance we'll escape?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Magno replied as she also was uncertain about their chances of escaping.

The ship then shuddered causing both women to stumble slightly.

"Portside engine has taken damage! Shields weakening!" reported a crew member in distress.

"We won't get far under these conditions…" she said to herself.

Then a comm channel opened with a familiar mechanic's face and voice over the line.

"Hey! Take these things off of me! How do you people expect me to do anything with these on?!" demanded HIbiki.

"What's he talking about?" Magno asked who was a little confused while B.C. just smiled.

"Leave this to me." she said as she looked at Hibiki. "What do plan to do?"

"I've decided to help you fight!" he replied zealously.

"Fight? You?!" asked B.C. incredulously.

"I know I'm a loser and that I'm totally uncool! But believe me, that's not who I want to be anymore!" he declared.

"Is this a man's nature? Or are you simply trying to be defiant?"

"NO! That's not the way it is now!" he denied with a shake of his head. "It's so I can become stronger but more importantly to prove my existence!"

B.C. just stood there for a moment before smiling and pressing the release button for the restraints.

The restraints fell off of Hibiki's wrists and onto the floor.

"You won't regret this!" Hibiki promised.

Then he ran off to the hangar where his partner was.

…

David let out an irritated grunt as once again blocked by the Cube fighters from getting too close to their mothership. The enemy seemed to have wised up, as the Cube fighters were determined to not allow David to get another clear shot at their mothership. With the Seed Vessel moving at high speeds after the fusing ship and the Cube fighters impeding him, he didn't see any way to destroy it without the Cube fighters swarming in to block his way and the Dreads weren't helping that much.

David knew that if more help didn't arrive soon, the pirates would be finished.

…

"The intensity of the enemy's assault is increasing. It's getting more difficult to defend ourselves." Meia reported as she, Jura, and Dita appeared over the bridge's comm channel.

"More reinforcements are heading your way. Though we don't know how helpful he'll be." Magno informed her, but mumbled the last part to herself.

_"More reinforcements?"_ Meia thought with surprise.

…

**Vanguard Hangar…**

"I'm here partner!" said Hibiki as he arrived then stopped and stared wide eyed at the changes the Vanguard underwent. Lying on the ground with its back to the floor and covered with Paksis crystals, the Vanguard was now slightly taller with the body taking on a gold and white color scheme and seemed to have taken more humanoid characteristics as its face now had a pair of round eyes and a helmet looking face.

Hibiki walked to the Vanguard and placed his hand on the part where his mark was.

"Hey partner…So you changed a little bit since the last time I saw you huh?" he remarked as he stared in amazement at the changes. "But it's still you isn't it?

Then he took on a look of determination. "Well then…I'll just change myself too!"

He quickly climbed into the cockpit and looked at the controls.

"I can't blow it this time! I have no idea how to use this thing but I'll make it move with my mind!" he declared. Then he started as a holographic display suddenly appeared in front of his face. The unit activated and the mecha rose and got on its feet.

"I-I'm actually moving it! I really did it!" he breathed in exhilaration. He positioned the new Vanguard onto a catapult-like launcher.

"This is my chance to finally do something with my life!" he said as pushed the controls forward.

The Vanguard burst forward as the launcher ignited and accelerated the machine to launch it into space. Hibiki let out a scream as he was propelled into the void and was soon surrounded by four enemy fighters.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed as his Vanguard spun out of control

"What is that thing?" asked Jura clearly not impressed with the Vanguard.

Dita opened a comm channel to Meia. "Meia look! It's the first good alien!"

"That's our…other reinforcements?!" Meia asked surprised that yet another male was helping them.

David on the other hand was somewhat confounded.

_"Are they serious?! What are they thinking of sending that kid who has no combat experience whatsoever in a Paksis modified Vanguard?!"_ he thought incredulously.

He shook his head and just silently prayed that somehow the reckless idiot survived this battle as he continued to watch out for the Vanguard while engaging the enemy.

The Vanguard then broke away from the four enemy fighters by punching its way out while Hibiki was attempting to reorient himself.

"Alright you guys are pretty good…" he said with a shaken voice as he was still dazed from his spin. Then he violently shook his head to clear it of his disorientation. "But I'm getting a hang of it now!"

"Take this! LIGHTNING FIST!" he yelled as he made the Vanguard lash out with a punch…that did absolutely nothing. The four Cube fighters simply surrounded him and opened fire while Hibiki let out a startled cry as his Vanguard was hit.

Jura and Dita wore looks of disbelief embarrassment at the lameness of Vanguard.

David sighed in exasperation at the boy's stupidity.

Inside the Vanguard Hibiki coughed as smoke filled the cockpit. _"This thing doesn't have any ammo!"_ he realized.

"Alright! How about this!" he said as his Vanguard drew a sword with a flourishing spin, slicing two enemy fighters as he did. The Vanguard then accelerated forward slicing two more enemies while charging toward the damaged mothership.

…

As the Vanguard engaged the enemy reports started to flood in.

"The enemy's main ship has stopped advancing!"

"It's heading toward the Vanguard!"

"It doesn't look like that other one isn't going to live much longer." commented Magno as she witnessed Hibki's reckless actions.

"Your right. But if he does somehow survive this challenge, the world we've come to know maybe turned upside down." she said with a smile.

…

Hbiki's Vanguard slashed through another enemy fighter then charged with the intent on finishing the enemy off. He was unaware that a certain Dread was following his Vanguard.

"It's amazing!" Dita beamed.

"Dita! What are you doing?! Fall back!" Meia ordered as she spotted her subordinate head straight behind the second unknown pilot.

"There's nothing to worry about! Mr. Alien can win this! I just know it!" she replied undaunted.

"Dita!"

"I'm going for it! No one is going to stop me now!" yelled Hibiki.

Hibiki was about ready to punch through the armor of the enemy ship with the Vanguard, when a cluster of enemy fighters rammed and pushed themselves against the Vanguard preventing from reaching the Seed vessel by slowing it down as their mothership prepared to fire.

"Just a little more…I can reach it! I just need more power!" Hibiki grunted as tried to make his mecha for the enemy ship.

David watched in alarm as the Starhawk's sensors warned him of an incoming signal. He turned expecting another attacker coming for the Vanguard. His eyes widened as he recognized the Dread that was on a collision course for the Vanguard and saw what the enemy Seed ship was about to do.

"NO! PULL BACK YOU TWO!" yelled David as he knew what was about to happen.

The alien mothership took this chance to attack and let loose metallic tendrils that struck the Vanguard head on and sent powerful charges to it along the tendrils. At the same time Dita's Dread collided with him headlong.

There was a massive explosion, which engulfed both the Vanguard and Dita's fighter.

"DITA!" Meia and Jura screamed at the sight.

Then Jura turned her head away. "That little idiot!"

David merely watched the explosion silently as he sensed that all may not be lost for he could tell that something was happening.

…

On the bridge of the pirate vessel, Magno lowered her head and said in a solemn voice. "Well, I guess our miracle didn't happen."

BC nodded.

"We should tell the crew to evacuate the ship." she suggested.

Then a voice broke over the comm.

"I wouldn't so sure of that if I were you." David said with a smile that confused the bridge crew.

At that moment, the Navi robot let of a loud beep and pointed to the main view screen. Something was coming out of the center of the explosion.

…

What came out was enormous. It stood a head taller than Starhawk and it seem to resemble the form of David's Mech, but was in deep navy blue with silver trim. It was humanoid in shape and had two long cannon barrels mounted behind each shoulder. On the machine's forearms was a pair of double-edged blades that glowed with a blue-green light. It looked powerful enough to tear apart a whole planet with its metal shod hands alone. What everyone was witnessing was the perfect fusion of Vanguard and Dread fighter!

"Wha-Is that…?" breathed Meia in confusion at what she was seeing.

Jura eyes widened at what was happening in front of her.

David wore a broad grin. _"Things are about to get interesting with that new Vandread! Hmm…Vandread…that has a nice ring to it."_

…

"What is THAT?! Is that another secret weapon of the men?!" Magno asked in awe.

"But how? Is this… a real miracle?" Buzam wondered aloud.

…

_"Go get'em kid!"_ David silently urged as he was still smiling.

The newly born mecha dove towards the enemy ship as it ripped off the burning tendrils for its chest. Several smaller attack drones were deployed to stop it, but those were swept away like little gnats. The ship then tried to seal itself by closing its maw, but the machine simply pried the ship wide open by using it's bladed hands. Then the mammoth cannons went into position on the shoulders, pointing forward. The cannons powered up and unleashed a blast ten times more powerful than Starhawk's weapons combined. The energy blast caused the back of the ship to bulge out before exploding. The mecha then moved backwards as the ship exploded like a miniature supernova. The female pirates and Bart were in awe at the sight before them. When it was all over, the only thing left of the alien mothership was a burned out wreck with Cube fighters shutting down.

"Not bad kid. Not bad at all." David said to no one in particular as he praised Hibiki's good fortune.

…

Within the giant mecha, Hibiki had his eyes closed as he gave of a sigh of relief.

_"I made it! I really made it!"_ he thought. It was finally over. But when he opened his eyes it was then that something caught his attention.

_"Wait a minute! Who's hand is this?!"_ he thought in alarm as he saw a smaller lighter skin tone hand intertwined with his on a control pad.

"What the heck is going on here?!" he shouted.

Hibiki realized that something was sitting on top of him and started panicking when he recognized what or rather who was on his lap!

"Hmmmm. I just _knew_ that Mr. Alien would protect us." Dita said, as she was half-asleep as she leaned back onto Hibiki's chest and snuggled closer.

Hibiki felt very uncomfortable as held back a cry.

"Is this…the proof of my _existence_?!" he asked in disbelief.

Then a male voice broke over the Vanguard's comm.

"Hey kid! Are you two alright?" David asked as he saw both Dita and Hibiki.

Then a suddenly energized Dita pooped up with a smile on her face. "I'm alright Mr. Other Alien!"

"Y-Yeah I'm fine. And I'm not a KID!" Hibiki shouted looking very offended.

"Whatever you say kid. Anyway, since you're both fine we should head back to the ship." he said with a shrug.

Before Hibiki could make an angry retort David closed the channel leaving Hibiki to grumble tiredly as piloted the Vanguard back to the ship.

…

The pirate crew all crowded the hanger and waited as Meia and Jura's Dreads along with the giant VanDread and Starhawk came in for a landing on the deck. Just as the giant mecha was about to land, it suddenly shifted back into Dita's Dread fighter and Hibiki's Vanguard while David's Mech transformed back into its fighter mode. As soon as they all landed, David typed a series of commands in his console before he stepped out of his Mech and saw Hibiki collapsing on the deck in exhaustion but he knew that the boy would be fine. He then noticed the pirate captain waiting and made his over to her.

As he stopped in front of her David simply looked at Magno and smiled.

"Like I said…I am more interesting than you know." he said. "And apparently, he is too." he added as he looked down at the unconscious Hibiki.

David then looked back to Magno and he stood there waiting.

"Take them back to their cell." the aged female pirate captain said. "Gently." she added as she regarded the unconscious Hibiki.

"Wait! Mr. Aliens!" Dita cried out as soon as she had gotten off her Dread.

However, she was held back as guards blocked her way, preventing her from coming close to David or Hibiki as they were taken away. She gave a pleading look at her captain, but Magno didn't seem to notice it as she turned to B.C.

"B.C. it seems we have a lot to talk about. You get Meia and Gascogne and have them join us in the meeting room." she ordered.

"Aye Captain." B.C. nodded and went to fufill her duty as Magno turned to Parfet.

"Parfet, I would like for you to study the changes made to the three Dreads and Vanguard along with that other machine and asses our situation. Then meet us later." Magno directed.

Parfet nodded and called out to her staff to begin their task.

The old woman briefly took one last look at the machines before her, particularly the Vanguard and the strange "Mech" before heading back to the bridge.

…

**Author's Notes: Well, this is an interesting turn of events! David makes his big reveal and the pirates are left to decide what to make of him. Oh, and in case you were wondering what the Mech looks like its appearance is like a cross between Freedom and Savior off of Gundam Seed while the head looks similar to the White Knight's of off White Knight Chronicles but with a more slight avian look to it and without the spike on its head. There's also the question, does David have psionic powers? We'll see. Also as I said before, I'll be updating this story while updating another story so it might be awhile before I update this one.**


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